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 '^<I would not live alway — live alway belovf ! 
 
 no, I'll not linger, when bidden to go. 
 ,The days of our pilgrimage granted us here, 
 
 Are enough for life's woes, full enough for its cheer. 
 Would I shrink iVom the patli which the prophets of 
 
 God, 
 xVpostles and martyi-s, so joyfully trod 7 * 
 
 While brethren and friends are all hastening hoi^e, 
 Like a spirit unblest o'er tiie earth would I roam ] 
 
 1 would not live alway — I ask not to stay, 
 Where storm after storm rises dark o'er the way ; 
 
 "^here seeking for rest, I but hover around, 
 ^^e the patriarch's bird, and no resting is found : 
 j^^.^e hope, when she paints her gay bow in the air, 
 And i^^*^ brilliance to fiwie in the night of despair, 
 g^y^T^j. fleeting angel ne'er sheds a glad ray, 
 
 "Itvam of the piumage that bears him away. 
 I would no . , ^, - , ^ 
 
 Temptation ^'^ alway— thus fettered by sm; 
 In a moment i^^^^^^' '^"^ corruption wlthl^ : 
 Scarce the vict^^.^P^SV^^' ^^'^ ^'^7^^' tl^-e chain, ^ 
 E'en the rapture ^ ^^3^^ ^^ l^ ^T^:\ ^'f'^'"' 
 And the cup of thaP'^^'' '^ mmglcd with fears, 
 T]ie festival trump ca?T''? Ym^ Penitent tears : 
 But my spirit her own ^' y^^ songs, 
 'f^ere prolongs. 
 I would not live alway— , xi x i 
 
 Immortality's lantp burils tS' ^^^l^<i^'^ tno tomb ; 
 There,^too, is the pilloV ^^ ^nght mid the gloo 
 
 head • '^'^ Christ bowed 
 
 ! soft be my slumbers on that 1 , , , 
 And then the glad mom soon to fo7 i^' . • -, x 
 When the sunrise of glory shall bu-sf ''''^' ^?Vf ' 
 And the full matin song, as the sleenerl ^^^^.^^^^"S^"'' 
 To shout in the morning, shall peal throlli^''^i^e g^jeg; 
 
 vWho, who would live 'alway? away from hi.po^^ 
 ^\^-^ from yon heaven, that blissful abode, ' 
 
 ^ '^ ^c. the rivers of pleasure flow o'er the .i^jo-ht 
 
 of glory eternally reigns : 
 " all ages in harmony meet, 
 hrethren transported to greet, 
 e unceashigly roll, 
 the feast of the soul. 
 
 >v I hear ? 
 c ^.et on mine ear ; 
 rtals of gold ; 
 i\uty beliold ! 
 wings of a dove ! 
 
 his 
 
SOUL'S CONFLICT WITH ITSELF 
 
 AND VICTORY OVER ITSELF BY FAITH 
 
 A TREATISE OF THE INWARD DISQUIETMENTS OF DISTRESSED 
 
 SPIRITS WITH COMFORTABLE REMEDIES 
 
 TO ESTABLISH THEM 
 
Vill»2VJ«S'JeSVi^Vi!9mvJ^^ 
 
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 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmsmmmmmm^ 
 

 zX 
 
 /^5' 
 
TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL 
 
 SIR JOHN BANKS, KT. ATTORNEY GENERAL, 
 
 SIR EDWARD MOSELY, KT. ATTORNEY OF THE DUCHY, 
 
 SIR WILLIAM DENNY, KT. KING's COUNSEL, 
 
 SIR DUDLEY DIGGES, KT. MASTER IN CHANCERY, 
 
 AND THE REST OF THE WORSHIPFUL 
 
 READERS AND BENCHERS, WITH THE ANCIENTS, BARRISTERS, 
 
 STUDENTS, AND ALL OTHERS BELONGING TO THE 
 
 HONOURABLE SOCIETY OF GRAY's INN 
 
 R. SIBBES 
 
 , DEDICATETH THESE SERMONS 
 
 PREACHED AMONGST THEM, IN TESTIMONY OF 
 
 HIS DUE OBSERVANCE, AND DESIRE 
 
 OF THEIR SPIRITUAL AND 
 
 ETERNAL GOOD. 
 
TO THE CHRISTIAN READER. 
 
 THERE be two sorts of people always in the visible Church ; 
 one that Satan keeps under with false peace, whose life is 
 nothing but a diversion to present contentments, and a running 
 away from God and their own hearts, which they know can 
 speak no good unto them, these speak peace to themselves, but 
 God speaks none. Such have nothing to do with this scripture ; 
 the way for these men to enjoy comfort, is to be soundly troubled. 
 True peace arises from knowing the worst first, and then our 
 freedom from it. It is a miserable peace that ariseth from igno- 
 rance of evil. The angel troubled the waters, John v, and then 
 cured those that stepped in. It is Christ's manner to trouble our 
 souls first, and then to come with healing in his wings. 
 
 But there is another sort of people, who being drawn out of 
 Satan's kingdom and within the covenant of grace, whom Satan 
 labours to unsettle and disquiet : being the god of the world, he 
 is vexed to see men in the world, walk above the world. Since 
 he cannot hinder their estate, he will trouble their peace, and 
 damp their spirits, and cut asunder the sinews of all their en- 
 deavours. These should take themselves to task as David doth 
 here, and labour to maintain their portion, and the glory of a 
 Christian profession. For whatsoever is in God, or comes from 
 God, is for their comfort. Himself is the God of comfort; his 
 Spirit most known by that office. Our blessed Saviour was so 
 careful that his disciples should not be too much dejected, that 
 he forgot his own bitter passion to comfort them, whom yet he 
 knew would all forsake him : let not your hearts be tro%ibled, saith 
 he. And his own soul was troubled to death, that we should 
 not be troubled : whatsoever is written is written for this end ; 
 every article of faith hath a special influence in comforting a be- 
 lieving soul. They are not only food, but cordials ; yea, he put 
 himself to his oath, that we mijht not only have consolation 
 but strong consolation. The sacraments seal unto us all the com- 
 forts we have by the death of Christ ; the exercise of religion, as 
 Prayer, Hearing, Reading, &c. is that our joy may be full: the com- 
 munion of saints is chiefly ordained to comfort the feeble minded 
 and to strengthen the weak, God's government of his Church 
 tends to this. Why doth he sweeten our pilgrimage, and let us 
 see so many comfortable days in the world, but that we should 
 serve him with cheerful and good hearts '? As for crosses, he doth 
 but cast us down, to raise us up, and empty us that he may fill 
 us, and melt us that we may be vessels of glory, loving us as well 
 
Vlll TO THE CHRISTIAN READER. 
 
 in the furnace, as when we are out, and standing by us all the 
 while. We are troubledy but not distressed; perplexed, but not 
 in despair; persecuted but not forsaken, 2 Cor. iv. 8. If we con- 
 sider from what fatherly love afflictions come, how they are not 
 only moderated, but sweetened and sanctified in the issue to us, 
 how can it but minister matter of comfort in the greatest seeming 
 discomforts'? How then can we let the reins of our affections 
 loose to sorrow without being injurious to God and his provi- 
 » dence 1 as if we would teach him how to govern his Church. 
 
 What unthankfulness is it to forget our consolation, and to 
 look only upon matter of grievance? to think so much upon two 
 or three crosses, as to forget a hundred blessings? To suck poi- 
 son out of that, from which we should suck honey ? What folly 
 is it to straiten, and darken our own spirits? and indispose our- 
 selves from doing or taking good ? A limb out of joint can do 
 nothing without deformity and pain ; dejection takes off the wheels 
 of the soul. 
 
 Of all other, Satan hath most advantage of discontented per- 
 sons, as most agreeable to his disposition, being the most discon- 
 tented creature under heaven ; he hammers all his dark plots in 
 their brains. The discontentment of the Israelites in the wilder^ 
 ness provoked God to swear that they should never enter into his 
 rest, Psalm xcv. ult. There is another spirit in my servant Caleb, 
 saith God; the spirit of God's people is an encouraging spirit. 
 Wisdom teaches them, if they feel any grievances, to conceal them 
 from others that are weaker, lest they be disheartened. God 
 threatens it as a curse to give a trembling heart, and sorrow of 
 mind, Deut. xxviii. 65 ; whereas on the contrary, joy is as oil to 
 the soul, it makes duties come off cheerfully and sweetly from 
 ourselves, graciously to others, and acceptably to God, A prince 
 cannot endure it in his subjects, nor a father in his children, to 
 be lowering at their presence. Such usually have stolen waters to 
 delight themselves in. 
 
 How many are there that upon the disgrace that follows reli- 
 gion, are frighted from it? But what are discouragements, to 
 the encouragements religion brings with it? which are such as 
 the very angels themselves admire at. Religion indeed brings 
 crosses with it, but then it brings comforts above those crosses. 
 What a dishonour is it to religion to conceive that God will not 
 maintain and honour his followers ? as if his service were not the 
 best service ; what a shame is it for an heir of heaven to be cast 
 down for every petty loss and cross? to be afraid of a man whose 
 breath is in] his nostrils, in not standing to a good cause, when 
 we are sure God will stand by us, assisting and comforting us, 
 whose presence is able to make the greatest torments sweet? 
 
 My discourse tends not to take men off from all grief and 
 mourning; L^ghtfor the righteous is sown in sorrow. Our state 
 
TO THE CHRISTIAN READER. IX 
 
 of absence from the Lord, and living here in a vale of tears, our 
 daily infirmities, and our sympathy with others, requires it ; and 
 where most grace is, there is most sensibleness, as in Christ. But 
 we must distinguish between grief, and that sullenness and de- 
 jection of spirit, which is with a repining and taking off from 
 duty; when Joshua was overmuch cast down at Israel's turning 
 their backs before their enemies, God reproves him, Get thee up, 
 Joshua, why liest thou upon thy face? Joshua vii. 10. 
 
 Some would have men after the committing of gross sins to be 
 presently comfortable, and believe without humbling themselves 
 at all ; indeed when we are once in Christ, we ought not to 
 question our stale in him ; and if we do, it comes not from the 
 spirit ; but yet a guilty conscience will be clamorous and full of 
 objections, and God will not speak peace unto it till it be humbled. 
 God will let his best children know what it is to be too bold with 
 sin, as we see in David and Peter, who felt no peace till they 
 had renewed their repentance : the way to rejoice with joy un- 
 speakable and glorious, 2 Pet. x. is to stir up sighs that cannot be 
 uttered. And it is so far, that the knowledge of our state in grace 
 should not humble us, that very ingenuity considering God's love 
 to us, out of the nature of the thing itself works sorrow and shame 
 in us, to offend his Majesty. 
 \ One main stop that hinders Christians from rejoicing is, that 
 ^ they give themselves too much liberty to question their grounds 
 of comibrt and interest in the promises. This is wonderfully com- 
 fortable say they, but what is it to me ? the promise belongs not 
 to me. This ariseth from want of giving all diligence to make 
 their calling sure to themselves. In watchfulness and diligence 
 we sooner meet with comfort than in idle complaining. Our care 
 therefore should be to get sound evidence of a good estate, and 
 then likewise to keep our evidence clear ; wherein we are not to 
 hearken to our own fears and doubts, or the suggestion of our 
 enemy, who studies to falsify our evidence : but to the word, and 
 our own consciences enlightened by the Spirit: and then it is pride 
 and pettishness to stand out against comfort to themselves. Chris- 
 tians should study to corroborate their title ; we are never more 
 in heaven, before we come thither, than when we can read our 
 evidences: it makes us converse much with God, it sweetens all 
 conditions, and makes us willing to do and suffer any thing. 
 It makes us have comfortable and honourable thoughts of our- 
 selves, as too good for the service of any base lust, and brings 
 confidence in God both in life and death. 
 
 But what if our condition be so dark, that we cannot read our 
 evidence at all? 
 
 Here look up to God's infinite mercy in Christ, as we did at the 
 first when we found no goodness in ourselves, and that is the way 
 to recover whatever we think we have lost. By honouring God's 
 mercy in Christ, we come to have the Spirit of Christ; therefore. 
 
X TO THE CHRISTIAK READER. 
 
 when the waters of sanctification are toubled and muddy, letus nin 
 to the witness of blood. God seems to walk sometimes contrary 
 to himself; he seems to discourage, when secretly he doth en- 
 courage, as the woman of Canaan ; but faith can find out these 
 ways of God, and untie these knots, by looking to the free pro- 
 mise and merciful nature of God. Let our sottish and rebellious 
 flesh murmur as much as it will, who art thou? and what is thy 
 worth ? yet a Christian knows whom he believes. Faith hath learned 
 to set God against all. 
 
 Again, we must go on to add grace to grace, A growing and 
 fruitful christian is always a comfortable christian; the oil of 
 grace brings forth the oil of gladness. Christ is first a king of righ- 
 teousness, and then a king of peace, Heb. vii. 2 ; the righteousness 
 that he works by his spirit brings a peace of sanctification, 
 whereby though we are not freed from sin, yet we are enabled 
 to combat with it, and to get the victory over it. Some degree 
 of comfort follows every good action, as heat accompanies fire, 
 and as beams and influences issue from the sun ; which is so true, 
 that very heathens upon the discharge of a good conscience, have 
 found comfort and peace answerable ; this is a reward before our 
 reward. 
 
 Another thing that hinders the comfort of Christians is, that 
 they forget what a gracious and merciful covenant they live 
 under, wherein the perfection that is required is to be found in 
 Christ, Perfection in us is sincerity : what is the end of faith 
 but to bring us to Christ 1 Now imperfect faith, if sincere, knits 
 to Chiist, in whom our perfection lies. 
 
 God's design in the covenant of grace is to exalt the riches of 
 his mercy, above all sin and unworthiness of man ; and we yield 
 him more glory of his mercy by believing, than it would be to 
 his justice to destroy us. If we were perfect in ourselves, we 
 should not honour him so much, as when we labour to be found 
 in Christ, having his righteousness upon us. 
 
 There is no one portion of scripture oftener used to fetch up 
 drooping spirits than this, Why art thou cast down my soul? it 
 is figurative, and full of rhetoric, and all little enough to persuade 
 th^ perplexed soul quietly to trust in God ; which without this 
 retiring into ourselves and checking our hearts, will never be 
 brought to pass. Chrysostom brings in a man loaden with troubles, 
 coming into the Church, where, when he heard this passage 
 read, he presently recovered himself, and becomes another man. 
 As David therefore did acquaint himself with this form of deal- 
 ing with his soul, so let us, demanding a reason of ourselves Why 
 we are cast down ; which will at least check and put a stop to the 
 distress, and make us fit to consider more solid grounds of true 
 comfort. 
 
 Of necessity the soul must be something calmed and staid be- 
 fore it can be comforted. Whilst the humours of the body rage 
 
TO THE CHRISTIAN READER. Xi 
 
 in a great distemper, there is no giving of physic : so when the 
 soul gives way to passion, it is unfit to entertain any counsel, 
 therefore it must be stilled by degrees, that it may hear reason ; 
 and sometimes it is fitter to be moved with ordinary reason, (as 
 being more familiar unto it) than with higher reasons fetched 
 from our supernatural condition in Christ, as from the condition 
 of man's nature subject to changes, from the uncomeliness of yield- 
 ing to passion for that, which it is not in our power to mend, &c. ; 
 these and such like reasons have some use to stay the fit for a 
 while, but they leave the core untouched, which is sin, the trouble 
 of all troubles. Yet when such considerations are made spiritual 
 by faith on higher grounds, they have some operation upon the 
 soul, as the influence of the moon having the stronger influence 
 of the sun mingled with it becomes more effectual upon these in- 
 ferior bodies. A candle light being ready at hand, is sometimes 
 as useful as the sun itself. 
 
 But our main care should be to have evangelical grounds of 
 comfort near to us, reconciliation with God, whereby all things 
 else are reconciled to us, adoption and communion with Christ, 
 &c., which is never sweeter than under the cross. Philip Lans- 
 grave of Hesse, being a long time prisoner under Charles the Fifth, 
 was demanded what upheld him all that time? who answered, 
 that he felt the divine comforts of the Martyrs : there be divine 
 comforts which are fislt under the cross, and not at other times. 
 
 Besides personal troubles, there are many much dejected with 
 the present state of the Church, seeing the blood of so many 
 saints to be shed, and the enemies oft to prevail ; but God hath 
 stratagems, as Joshua, at Ai, he seems sometimes to retire that 
 he may come upon his enemies with the greater advantage ; the 
 end of all these troubles will no doubt be the ruin of the anti- 
 christian faction ; and we shall see the Church in her more per- 
 fect beauty when the enemies shall be in that place which is 
 fittest for them, the lowest, that is, the footstool of Christ ; the 
 Church as it is highest in the favour of God, so it shall be the 
 highest in itself. The mountain of the Lord shall be exalted above 
 all mountains. In the worst condition, the Church hath two faces, 
 one towards heaven and Christ, which is always constant and 
 glorious; another toward the world, which is in appearance con- 
 temptible and changeable. But God will in the end give her 
 beauty for ashes, and glory double to her shame, and she shall 
 in the end prevail : in the mean time, the power of the enemies 
 is in God's hand: the Church of God conquers when it is con- 
 quered : even as our head Christ did, who overcame by patience 
 as well as by power. Christ's victory was upon the cross. The 
 spirit of a Christian conquers when his person is conquered. 
 
 The way is, instead of discouragement, to search all the pro* 
 mises made to the Church in these latter times, and to turn them 
 into prayers, and press God earnestly for the performance of them. 
 
Xll TO THE CHRISTIAN READER. 
 
 Then we shall soon find God both cursiug his enemies, and blessing 
 his people out of Zion, by the faithful prayers that ascend Up 
 from thence. 
 
 In all the promises we should have special recourse to God in 
 them. In all storms there is sea room enough in the infinite good- 
 ness of God, for faith to be carried with full sail. 
 
 And it must be remembered that, in all places where God is 
 mentioned, we are to understand God in the promised Messiah, 
 typified out so many ways unto us. And to put the more vigour 
 into such places in the reading of them, we in this latter age of 
 the Church must think of God shining upon us in the face of 
 Christ, and our father in him. If they had so much confidence 
 in so little light, it is a shame for us, not to be confident in good 
 things, when so strong a light shines round about us : when we 
 profess we believe a crown of righteousness is laid up for all those 
 that love his appearing. Presenting these things to the soul by 
 faith setteth the soul in such a pitch of resolution, that no dis- 
 couragements are able to seize upon it. We faint not, saith St. 
 Paul : wherefore doth he not faint 1 because these light and short 
 afflictions procure an exceeding weight of glory, 
 
 Luther when he saw Melancthon, a godly and learned man, too 
 much dejected for the state of the Church in those times, falls a 
 chiding of him as David doth here his own soul, / strongly hate 
 those miserable cares, saith he, whereby thou writest thou art even 
 spent. It is not the greatness of the cause, but the greatness of our 
 incredulity. If the cause be false, let us revoke it. If true, why 
 do we muke God in his rich promises a liar? Strive against thyself, 
 the greatest enemy; why do we fear the conquered world, that have 
 the conqueror himself on our side ? 
 
 Now to speak something concerning the publishing of this trea- 
 tise. I began to preach on the text about twelve years since in 
 the city, and afterwards finished the same at Grays-Inn. After 
 which, some having gotten imperfect notes, endeavoured to pub- 
 lish them without my privity. I'herefore to do myself right, I 
 thought fit to reduce them to this form. There is a pious and stu- 
 dious gentleman of Grays-Inn, that hath of late published obser- 
 vations upon the whole psalm ; and another upon this very verse 
 very well : and many others, by treatises of faith and such like, 
 have furthered the spiritual peace of Christians much. It were 
 to be wished that we would all join to do that which the apostles 
 gloried in, to be helpers of the joy of God's people, 2 Cor. i. ult. 
 Some will be ready to deprave the labours of other men ; but, 
 60 good may be done, let such ill disposed persons be what they 
 are, and what they will be unless God turn their hearts : and 
 so 1 commend thee and this poor treatise to God's blessing. 
 
 R. SIBBES. 
 
 Grays-Inn, July I, 1635. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter . Pa<^c' 
 
 1. General observations upon the text 3 
 
 2. Of discouragements from without 7 
 
 3. Of discouragements from within 13 
 
 4. Of casting down ourselves, and specially by sorrow. 
 
 Evils thereof 25 
 
 5. Remedies of casting down: to cite the soul, and press 
 
 it to give an account 31 
 
 6. Other observations of the same nature 38 
 
 7. Difference between good men and others in conflicts 
 
 with sin 50 
 
 8. Of unfitting dejection: and when it is excessive. And 
 
 what is the right temper of the soul herein 55 
 
 9. Of the soul's disquiets, God's dealings, and power to 
 
 contain ourselves in order 64 
 
 10. Means not to be overcharged with sorrow 69 
 
 11. Signs of victory over ourselves, and of a subdued spirit 83 
 
 12. Of original righteousness, natural corruption, Satan's 
 
 joining with it, and our duty thereupon . 90 
 
 13. Of imagination : sin of it, and remedies for it 102 
 
 14. Of help by others : of true comforters, and their graces. 
 
 __ Method. lUsuccess 129 
 
 15. Of flying to God in disquiets of souls. Eight observa- 
 
 tions out of the text !.... 141 
 
 16. Of trust in God: grounds of it: especially his providence 153 
 
 17. Of graces to be exercised in respect of divine providence 162 
 
 18. Other grounds of trusting in God : namely, the promises. 
 
 And twelve directions about the same 172 
 
 19. Faith to be prized, and other things undervalued, at least 
 
 not to be trusted to as the chief 185 
 
 20. Of the method of trusting in God, and the trial of that 
 
 trust 193 
 
 21. Of quieting the spirit in troubles for sin. And objections 
 
 answered 203 
 
 22. Of sorrow for sin, and hatred of sin, when right and suf- 
 
 ficient. Helps thereto 216 
 
 23. Other spiritual causes of the soul's trouble discovered 
 
 and removed : and objections answered 225 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 24. Of outward troubles disquieting the spirit ; and comforts 
 
 in them 230 
 
 25. Of the defects of gifts, disquieting the soul. As also the 
 
 afflictions of the church 237 
 
 26. Of divine reasons in a believer, of his minding to praise 
 __^„ God more than to be delivered 242 
 
 27. In our worst condition we have cause to praise God. 
 
 Still ample cause in these days 248 
 
 28. Divers qualities of the piaise due to God. With helps 
 
 therein. And notes of God's hearing our prayers ... 257 
 
 29. Of God's manifold salvation for his people ; and why 
 
 open, or expressed in the countenance 271 
 
 30. Of God, our God, and of particular application 279 
 
 31. Means of proving and evidencing to our souls that God 
 
 is our God 290 
 
 32. Of improving our evidences for comfort in several pas- 
 
 sages of our lives 297 
 
 33. Of experience and faith, and how to wait on God com- 
 
 fortably. Helps thereto 309 
 
 34. Of confirming this trust in God. Seek it of God him- 
 
 self. Sins hinder not: nor Satan. Conclusion and 
 Soliloquy 321 
 
IN OPUS POSTHUMUM ADMODUM REVERENDI, 
 
 MIHIQUE MULTIS NOMINIBUS COLENDI, 
 
 RICHARDI SIBBES, S. T. PROFESSORIS, AULiE 
 
 SANCT*. CATH. PR^FECTI DIGNISSIMI. 
 
 Yade, liber, pie dux animae, pie mentis Achates, 
 
 Te relegens, fructu ne pereunte legat, 
 Quam foelix prodis ! Prae sacro codice sordent, 
 
 Bartole, sive tui; sive, Galene, tui, 
 
 Fidus praeco Dei, ccelestis cultor agelli 
 
 Assidui pretium grande laboris habet: 
 Quo mihi nee vita melior, nee promptior ore, 
 
 Gratior aut vultu, nee fuit arte prior. 
 
 Nil opus ut nardum caro combibat uncta sabaeum, 
 
 Altdve marmoreus sydera tangat apex : 
 Non eget hie urna, non marmore ; nempe volumen 
 
 Stat sacrum, vivax marmor, et urna, pio. 
 
 Qui Christo vivens incessit tramite cceli, 
 
 ^thereumque obiit munus, obire nequit : 
 •Ducit hie angelicis aequalia saecula lustris, 
 
 Qui verbo studium contulit omne suum. 
 
 Perlegat hunc legum cultrix veneranda senectus, 
 
 Et quos plena Deo mens super astra vehit : 
 Venduntur (quanti ! ) circum palatia fumi ! 
 
 Hie sacer, altaris carbo minoris erit 1 
 
 Heu ! pietas ubi prisca 1 profana 6 tempora ! mundi 
 Faex ! vesper ! prope nox ! 6 mora ! Christe veni. 
 
 Si valuere preces unquam, et custodia Christi, 
 Nunc opus est precibus, nunc ope, Christe, tu^. 
 
 Certat in humanis vitiorum infamia rebus, 
 
 Hei mihi ! nulla novis sufficit herba malis? 
 Probra referre pudet; nee enim decet : exprobret ilia 
 
 Qui volet; est nostrum flere, silendo queri. 
 
 Flere? Tonabo tuas, pietas neglecta, querelas: 
 Quid non schisma, tepor, fastus, et astus agunt? 
 
 Addo — Sed historicus Tacitus fuit optimus. Immo 
 Addam — sphaerarum at musica muta placet. 
 
 Edv. Benlosio. 
 Cressince Templariorum, 
 Prid. Cal. Febr. mdcxxxv. 
 
ON THE WORK OF MY LEARNED FRIEND 
 DOCTOR SIBBES. 
 
 Fool that I was 1 to think my easy pen 
 
 Had strength enough to glorify the fame 
 
 Of this known author, this rare man of men ; 
 
 Or give the least advantage to his name. 
 
 Who think, by praise, to make his name more bright, 
 Show the sun's glory by dull candle light. 
 
 Blest saint ! thy hallow'd pages do require 
 No slight preferment from our slender lays : 
 We stand amazed at what we most admire ; 
 Ah, what are saints the better for our praise ! 
 He that commends this volume, does no more 
 Than warm the fire or gild the massy ore. 
 
 Let me stand silent then. O may that spirit. 
 Which led thine hand, direct mine eye, my breast ; 
 That I may read, and do ; and so inherit 
 (What thou enjoy'st and taught'st), eternal rest ! 
 Fool that 1 was ! to think my lines could give 
 Life to that work, by which they hope to live. 
 
 Francis Quarles. 
 
THE SCr^=t'S CONFLICT 
 
 WITH ITSELF. 
 
 Why art thou cast down, my soull and why art thou 
 disquieted within me ? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet 
 praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my 
 God, Psalm xlii. 
 
 THE Psalms are, as it were, the anatomy of a holy 
 man, which lay the inside of a truly devout man 
 outward to the view of others. If the Scriptures be 
 compared to a body, the Psalms may well be the 
 heart, they are so full of sweet affections, and passions. 
 For in other portions of Scripture God speaks to 
 us ; but in the Psalms holy men speak to God and 
 their own hearts : as 
 
 In this Psalm we have the passionate passages of 
 a broken and troubled spirit. 
 
 At this time David was a banished man, banished 
 from his own house, from his friends, and, which trou- 
 bled him most, from the house of God, upon occasion 
 of SauFs persecution, who hunted him as a partridge 
 upon the mountains. See how this works upon him. 
 
 1. He lays open his desire springing from his love. 
 Love being the prime and leading aifection of the soul, 
 from whence grief springs, from being crossed in that 
 we love. For the setting out of which his affection to 
 the full, he borroweth an expression from the hart ; no 
 
 B 
 
2 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 hartjbeing chased by the hunters, parz^e^ A more after 
 the waters, than my heart doth after thee, O God, 
 ver. 1 : though he found God present with him in exile, 
 yet there is a sweeter presence of him in his ordinances, 
 which now he wanted and took to heart : places and 
 conditions are happy or miserable, as God vouch- 
 safeth his gracious presence more or less ; and there- 
 fore, Wheii, when shall it be, that I appear before 
 God? 
 
 2. Then after his strong desire, he lays out his 
 grief, which he could not contain, but must needs 
 give a vent to it in tears : and he had such a spring 
 of grief in him, as fed his tears day and night, ver. 
 3 ; all the ease he found was to dissolve this cloud 
 of grief into the shower of tears. 
 
 But, why gives he this way to his grief ? 
 
 Because together with his exihng from God's house, 
 he was upbraided by his enemies, with his religion : 
 where is now thy God? ver. 3. Grievances come 
 not alone, but, as Job's messengers, follow one ano- 
 ther. These bitter taunts, together with the remem- 
 brance of his former happiness in communion with 
 God in his house, made deep impressions in his soul, 
 when he remembered how he went with the multi- 
 tude into the house of God, ver. 4, and led a goodly 
 train with him, being willing, as a good magistrate 
 and master of a family, not to go to the house of God 
 alone, nor to Heaven alone, but to cany as many as 
 he could with him ; oh ! the remembrance of this 
 made him pour forth (not his words or his tears only, 
 but) his very soul. Former favours and happiness 
 makes the soul more sensible of all impressions to the 
 contrary ; hereupon, finding his soul over sensible, 
 he expostulates with himself, Why art thou cast down, 
 
THE SOUL S COXFLICT. $ 
 
 O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within 
 me ? &c. 
 
 But though the remembrance of the former sweet- 
 ness of God's presence did somewhat stay him, yet 
 his grief would not so be stilled, and therefore it gathers 
 upon him again ; one grief called upon another, as 
 one deep wave follows another, ver. 7, without inter- 
 mission, until his soul was almost overwhelmed under 
 these waters ; yet he recovers himself a little with 
 looking up to God, who he expected would with speed 
 and authority send forth his loving kindness with 
 command to raise him up and comfort him, and give 
 him matter of songs in the night, ver. 8. For all this, 
 his unruly grief will not be calmed, but renews as- 
 saults upon the return of the reproach of his enemies. 
 Their words were as swords, ver. 10, unto him, and 
 his heart being made very tender and sensible of grief, 
 these sharp words enter too deep ; and thereupon he 
 hath recourse to his former remedy, as being the most 
 tried, to chide his soul, and charge it to trust in God. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 General Observations upon the Text, 
 
 HENCE in general we may observe ; that Grief 
 gathered to a head will not be quieted at the 
 first. We see here passions intermingled with com- 
 forts, and comforts with passions, and what bustling 
 there is before David can get the victory over his own 
 heart : you have some short spirited Christians, that 
 if they be not comforted at the first, they think all 
 labour with their hearts is in vain, and thereupon give 
 way to their grief. But we see in David, as distemper 
 ariseth upon distemper, so he gives check upon check, 
 
4 THE SOUL 9 CONFLICT. 
 
 and charge upon charge to his soul, until a;t length he 
 brought it to a quiet temper. In physic, if one purge 
 will not carry away the vicious humour, then we 
 add a second ; if that will not do it, we take a third : 
 so should we deal with our souls, perhaps, one check, 
 one charge will not do it, then fall upon the soul 
 again ; send it to God again, and never give over until 
 our souls be possessed of our souls again. 
 
 Again, In general observe in David's spirit, that a 
 gracious and living soul is rnost sensible of the want 
 of spiritual means. 
 
 The reason is because spiritual hfe hath answerable 
 taste, and hunger and thirst after spiritual helps. 
 
 We see in nature, that those things press hardest 
 upon it, that touch upon the necessities of nature, 
 rather than those that touch upon delights, for these 
 further only our comfortable being; but necessities 
 uphold our being itself: we see how famine wrought 
 upon the patriarchs to go into Egypt : where we 
 may see what to judge of those who willingly excom- 
 municate themselves from the assemblies of God's 
 people, where the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are 
 present, where the prayers of holy men meet together 
 in one, and as it were bind God, and pull down God's 
 blessing. No private devotion hath that report of ac- 
 ceptance from Heaven. 
 
 A third general point is, that a godly soul, by reason 
 of the life of grace, knows when it is well with it, 
 and when it is ill, ivhen it is a good day with it, and 
 when a bad ; when God shines in the use of means 
 then the soul is as it were in Heaven ; when God 
 withdraws himself, then it is in darkness for a time. 
 Where there is but only a principle of nature without 
 sanctifying grace, there men go plodding on and keep 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 their rounds, and are at the end where they were at 
 the beginning; not troubled with changes, because 
 there is nothing within to be troubled ; and therefore 
 dead means, quick means, or no means, all is one 
 with them, an argument of a dead soul. And so we 
 come more particularly and directly to the words, 
 Why art thou cast down^ O my soul ? and luhy art 
 thou disquieted within me ? &c. 
 
 The words imply, 1. David's state wherein he was ; 
 and, 2. express his carriage in that state. 
 
 His state was such that in regard of outward con- 
 dition, he was in variety of troubles ; and that in re- 
 gard of inward disposition of spirit, he was first cast 
 downy and then disquieted. 
 
 Now for his carriage of himself in this condition, 
 and disposition, he dealeth roundly with himself: 
 David reasoneth the case with David, and first checketh 
 himself for being too much cast down, and then for 
 being too much disquieted. 
 
 And then layeth a charge upon himself to trust in 
 God ; wherein we have the duty he chargeth upon 
 himself, which is to trust in God, and the grounds 
 of the duty ; 
 
 First, from confidence of better times to come, 
 which would yield him matter oi praising God. 
 
 And then by a representation of God unto him, 
 as a saving God in all troubles, nay, as salvation it- 
 self, an open glorious Saviour in the view of all. The 
 salvation of my countenance, and all this enforced 
 from David's interest in God, He is my God. 
 
 Whence observe, first, from the state he was now 
 in, that since guilt and corruption hath been derived 
 by the fall, into the nature of man, it hath been sub- 
 jected to misery and sorrow, and in that all con- 
 
6 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 ditions from the king that sitteth on the throne to 
 him that grindeth at the mill. None ever hath been 
 so ^ood or so great, as could raise themselves so high 
 as to be above the reach of troubles. 
 
 And that choice part of mankind, the first fruits 
 and excellency of the rest, (which we call the Church) 
 more than others, which appears by consideration 
 both of the head, the hody^ and members of the 
 Church. For the head Christ, he took our flesh as 
 it was subject to misery after the fall, and was, in re- 
 gard of that which he endured^ both in life and death, 
 a man of sorrows. 
 
 For the body the Church, it may say from the first 
 to the last as it is Psal. cxxix. From my youth up 
 they have afflicted me. The Church began in blood, 
 hath grown up by blood, and shall end in blood, as it 
 was redeemed by blood. 
 
 For the members, they are all predestinate to a con- 
 formity to Christ their Head, as in grace and glory, 
 so in abasement, Rom. viii. 29. Neither is it a won- 
 der for those that are born soldiers to meet with con- 
 flicts, for travellers to meet with hard usage, for sea- 
 men to meet with storms, for strangers in a strange 
 country (especially amongst their enemies) to meet 
 with strangle entertainment. 
 
 A Christian is a man of another world, and here 
 from home, which he would forget (if he were not 
 exercised here) and would take his passage for his 
 country. But though all Christians agree and meet 
 in this, that through many afflictions we must enter 
 into heaven y Acts xiv. 22 ; yet according to the di- 
 versity of place, parts, and grace, there is a diflerent 
 cup measured to every one. 
 
 And therefore it is but a plea of the flesh, to except 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT* T 
 
 against tlie cross, Never was poor creature distressed 
 as I am : this is but self-love, for was it not the case 
 both of head, body, and members, as we see here in 
 David a principal member? When he was brought 
 to this case, thus to reason the matter with himself, 
 Why art thou cast down, my soul? and why art 
 thou disquieted within me? 
 
 From the frame of David's spirit under these trou- 
 bles, we may observe, that as the case is thus with 
 all God's people, to be exercised with troubles. They 
 are sensible of them oftentimes, even to casting down 
 and discouraging. And the reason is, they are flesh 
 and blood, subject to the same passions, and made of 
 the same mould, subject to the same impressions from 
 without as other men ; and their nature is upheld with 
 the same supports and refreshings as others, the with- 
 drawing and want of which affecteth them. And be- 
 sides those troubles they suffer in common with other 
 men, by reason of their new advancement, and their 
 new disposition they have in and from Christ their 
 head, they are more sensible in a peculiar manner of 
 those troubles that any way touch upon that blessed 
 condition, from a new Hfe they have in and from Christ, 
 which will better appear if we come more particularly 
 to a discovery of the more special causes of this distem- 
 per : some of which are, 1. Without us, 2. Some 
 within us, 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Of Discouragements from ivithout, 
 
 1. /^^ OD himself: who sometimes withdraws the 
 
 VJT beams of his countenance from his children, 
 
 whereupon the soul even of the strongest Christian is 
 
 disquieted ; when together with the cross, God himself 
 
8 THE SOUL S CON¥LICT. 
 
 seems to be an enemy unto them. The child of God, 
 when he seeth that his troubles are mixed with God's 
 displeasure, and perhaps his conscience tells him that 
 God hath a just quarrel against him, because he hath 
 not renewed his peace with his God, then this anger 
 of God puts a sting into all other troubles, and adds 
 to the disquiet. There were some ingredients of this 
 divine temptation (as we call it) in holy David at this 
 time : though most properly a divine temptation be, 
 when God appears unto us as an enemy, without any 
 special guilt of any particular sin, as in Job's case. 
 
 And no marvel if Christians be from hence dis- 
 quieted, when as the Son of God himself, having always 
 before enjoyed the sweet communion with his Father, 
 and now feeling an estrangement, that he might be a 
 curse for us, complained in all his torments of nothing 
 else, but My God, my God, why hast thou forsa- 
 ken me ? Mat. xxvii. 46. It is with the godly in this 
 case, as with vapours drawn up by the sun, which 
 (when the extracting force of the sun leaves them) fall 
 down again to the earth from whence they are drawn. 
 So when the soul, raised up and upheld by the beams 
 of his countenance, is left of God, it presently begins 
 to sink. We see when the body of the sun is partly 
 hid from us (for totally it cannot in an eclipse by the 
 body of the moon) that there is a drooping in the 
 whole frame of nature : so it is in the soul, when 
 there is any thing that comes between God's gracious 
 countenance and it. 
 
 Besides, if we look down to inferior causes, the 
 soul is oft cast down by Satan, who is all for cast- 
 ing down, and for disquieting. For being a cursed 
 spirit, cast and tumbled down himself from heaven, 
 where he is never to come again, he is hereupon full 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 9 
 
 of disquiet, carrying a hell about himself, whereupon 
 all that he labours for is to cast down and disquiet 
 others, that they may be (as much as he can procure) 
 in the sam.e cursed condition with himself. He was 
 not ashamed to set upon Christ himself with this temp- 
 tation of casting down, and thinks Christ's members 
 never low enough, till he can bring them as low as 
 himself. 
 
 By his envy and subtilty we were driven out of 
 Paradise at the first, and now he envies us the Paradise 
 of a good conscience : for that is our Paradise until 
 we come to Heaven ; into which no serpent shall ever 
 creep to tempt us. When Satan seeth a man strongly 
 and comfortably walk with God, he cannot endure 
 that a creature of meaner rank by creation than him- 
 self should enjoy such happiness. Herein, like (some 
 peevish men which are his instruments) men too con- 
 tentious, and bred up therein (as the salamander in 
 the fire) who when they know the cause to be naught, 
 and their adversaries to have the better title ; yet, out 
 of malice, they will follow them with suits and vexa- 
 tions, though they be not able to disable their oppo- 
 sites' title : if their mahce have not a vent in hurting 
 some way, they will burst for anger. 
 
 It is just so with the devil when he seeth men will 
 to Heaven, and that they have good title to it, then 
 he follows them with all dejecting and uncomfortable 
 tentations that he can : it is his continual trade and 
 course to seek his rest in our disquiet, he is by beaten 
 practice and profession, a tempter in this kind. 
 
 Again, what Satan cannot do himself by immediate 
 suggestions, thathe labours to work by his instruments, 
 who are all for casting down of those who stand in their 
 light, as those in the Psalm, who cry, Down with him, 
 
 ^ 
 
10 THE SOUL*S CONFLICT. 
 
 down with Mm, even to the ground ; a character and 
 stamp of which men's dispositions we have in the verse 
 before this text, Mine enemies (saith David) reproach 
 me. As sweet and as compassionate a man as he 
 was, to pray and put on sackcloth for them, yet he 
 had enemies, and such enemies, as did not suffer their 
 maHce only to boil and concoct in their own breasts, 
 but out of the abundance of their hearts, they re- 
 proached him in words. There is nothing the nature 
 of man is more impatient of, than of reproaches ; for 
 there is no man so mean, but thinks himself worthy 
 of some regard, and a reproachful scorn shews an 
 utter disrespect, which issues from the very superfluity 
 of mahce. 
 
 Neither went they behind his back, but were so 
 impudent to say it to his face : a malicious heart and 
 a slandering tongue go together, and though shame 
 might have suppressed the uttering of such words, yet 
 their insolent carriage spake as muchi^i David's heart : 
 Psalm xxxix. 1. We may see by the language of men's 
 carriage what their heart saith, and what their tongue 
 would vent if they dared. 
 
 And this their mahce was unwearied, for they said 
 daily unto him, as if it had been fed with a continual 
 spring : malice is an unsatiable monster, it will mi- 
 nister words, as rage ministers weapons. But what 
 was that they said so reproachfully? and said daily ? 
 Where is now thy God I ver. 3, they upbraid him with 
 his singularity, they say not now. Where is God ? but, 
 Where is thy God, that thou dost boast so much on, 
 as if thou hadst some special interest in Him ? Where 
 we see that the scope of the devil and wicked men is 
 to shake the godly 's faith and confidence in their God : 
 as Satan laboured to divide betwixt Christ and his 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 11 
 
 Father, If thou heest the Son of God, command 
 that these stones be made bread, Matth. ii. 4, so he 
 labours to divide betwixt Father and Son and us : 
 they labour to bring God in jealousy with David, as 
 if God had neglected him, bearing himself so much 
 upon God. They had some colour of this, for God 
 at this time had vailed himself from David, as he does 
 oft from his best children, for the better discovery of 
 the mahce of wicked men : and doth not Satan tip 
 the tongues of the enemies of religion now, to insult 
 over the church now lying a bleeding?* What be- 
 comes of their reformation, of their Gospel ? Nay, 
 rather what's become of your eyes, we may say unto 
 them ? For God is nearest to his children when he 
 seems farthest ofF. In the mount of the Lord it shall 
 be seen, Gen. xxii. 14, God is with them, and in them, 
 though the wicked be not aware of it ; it is all one, as 
 if one should say betwixt the space of the new and old 
 moon, Where is now the moon ? when as it is never 
 nearer the sun than at that time. 
 
 Where is now thy God ? 
 
 In heaven, in earth, in me, everywhere but in the 
 heart of such as ask such questions, and yet there 
 they shall find him too in his time, filling their con- 
 sciences with his wrath ; and then, Where is their 
 God ? where are their great friends, their riches, their 
 honours, which they set up as a god ? what can they 
 avail them now ? 
 
 But how was David affected with these reproaches ? 
 their words were as swords, as with a sword in my 
 bones, &c. ver. 10, they spake daggers to him, they 
 
 * This was preached in the beginning of the troubles of the 
 Church, 
 
12 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 cut him to the quick when they touched him in his 
 God, as if he had neglected his servants, when as the 
 devil himself regards those who serve his turn ; touch 
 a true godly man in his religion, and you touch his 
 life and his best freehold, he lives more in his God 
 than in himself; so that we may see here, there is a 
 murder of the tongue, a wounding tongue, as well as 
 a healing tongue : men think themselves freed from 
 murder, if they kill none, or if they shed no blood, 
 -whereas they cut others to the heart with bitter words. 
 It is good to extend the commandment to awake the 
 conscience the more, and breed humility, when men 
 see there is a murdering of the tongue. We see 
 David therefore upon this reproach to be presently so 
 moved, as to fall out with himself for it, Why art 
 thou so cast down and disquieted, my soul ? This 
 bitter taunt ran so much in his mind, that he expresseth 
 it twice in this Psalm ; he was sensible that they 
 struck at God through his sides ; what they spake in 
 scorn and lightly, he took heavily. And indeed, 
 when religion suffers, if there be any heavenly fire in 
 the heart, it will rather break out, than not discover 
 itself at all. We see by daily experience, that there 
 is a special force in words uttered from a subtle head, 
 a false heart and a smooth tongue, to weaken the 
 hearts of professors, by bringing an evil report upon 
 the strict profession of religion : as the cunning and 
 false spies did upon the good land, Judg. i. 24, as if 
 it were not only in vain, but dangerous to appear for 
 Christ in evil times. If the example of such as have 
 faint spirits will discourage in an army, (as we see in 
 Gideon's history. Judges vii.)then what will speech in- 
 forced both by example and with some shew of rea- 
 son do ? 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 15 
 
 To let others pass, we need not go further than 
 ourselves, for to find causes of discouragement, there 
 is a seminary of them within us. Our flesh, an enemy 
 so much the worse, by how much the nearer, will be 
 ready to upbraid us within us. Where is now thy God? 
 why shouldst thou stand out in a profession that finds 
 no better entertainment? 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Of Discouragements from within, 
 
 BUT to come to some particular causes within us. 
 There is cause oft in the body of those in 
 whom a melancholy temper prevaileth, darkness 
 makes men fearful : melancholy persons are in a 
 perpetual darkness, all things seem black and dark 
 unto them, their spirits as it were dyed black. Now 
 to him that is in darkness, all things seem black and 
 dark, the sweetest comforts are not lightsome enough 
 unto those that are deep in melancholy. It is, with- 
 out great watchfulness, Satan's bath ; which he 
 abuseth as his own weapon to hurt the soul, which 
 by reason of its sympathy with the body is subject to 
 be misled : as we see where there is a suffusion of the 
 eye by reason of distemper of humours, or where things 
 are presented through a glass to the eye ; things seem 
 to be of the same colour : so, whatsoever is presented 
 to a melancholy person, comes in a dark way to the 
 soul. From whence it is, that their fancy being cor^ 
 rupted, they judge amiss, even of outward things, as 
 that they are sick of such and such a disease, or subject 
 to such and such a danger, when it is nothing so ; 
 how fit are they then to judge of things removed from 
 sense, as of their spiritual estate in Christ? 
 
14 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 To come to causes more near the soul itself, as 
 when there is want of that which should be in it, as 
 of knowledge in the understanding y &c. Ignorance 
 (being darkness) is full of false fears. In the night 
 time men think every bush a thief; our forefathers in 
 time of ignorance were frighted with every thing ; 
 therefore it is the policy of Popish tyrants, taught them 
 from the prince of darkness, to keep the people in 
 darkness, that so they might make them fearful, and 
 then abuse that fearfulness to superstition ; that they 
 might the better rule in their consciences for their 
 own ends : and that so having intangled them with 
 false fears, they might heal them again with false cures. 
 
 Again, though the soul be not ignorant, yet if it be 
 forgetfuland mindless, if, as Heb, xii. the Apostle saith, 
 YoiL have forgot the consolation that speaks unto 
 you, &c. We have no more present actual comfort, 
 than we have remembrance : help a godly man's me- 
 mory, and help his comfort ; like unto charcoal which 
 having once been kindled, is the more easy to take 
 fire. He that hath formerly known things, takes 
 ready acquaintance of them again, as old friends : 
 things are not strange to him. 
 
 And further, want of setting due price upon com- 
 forts ; as the Israelites were taxed for setting nothing 
 by the pleasant land. It is a great fault, when (as 
 they said to Job) the consolation of the Almighty 
 seem light, and small unto us. Job xv. 11, unless we 
 have some outward comfort which we linger after. 
 
 Add unto this, a childish kind of peevishness : 
 when they have not what they would have, like chil- 
 dren, they throw away all ; which though it be very 
 offensive to God's Spirit, yet it seizeth often upon 
 men otherwise gracious. Abraham himself, wanting 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 15 
 
 children, Gen, xvi. undervalued all other blessings. 
 Jonas, because he was crossed of his gourd, was 
 weary of his hfe. The like may be said of Elias, fly- 
 ing from Jezebel. This peevishness is increased by 
 a too much flattering of their grief, so far as to jus- 
 tify it ; like Jonas, / do well to be angry even unto 
 death, Jonah iv. 9, he would stand to it. Some 
 with Rachel are so peremptory, that they will not be 
 comforted, Jer. xxxi. 15, as if they were in love with 
 their grievances. Wilful men are most vexed in their 
 crosses : it is not for those to be wilful that have not 
 a great measure of wisdom to guide their wills ; for 
 God delights to have his will of those that are wed- 
 ded to their own wills : as in Pharaoh. No men 
 more subject to discontentments than those who would 
 have all things after their own way. 
 
 Again, one main ground is, false reasoning, and 
 error in our discourse, as that we have no grace when 
 we feel none : feeling is not always a fit rule to judge 
 our states by ; that God hath rejected us, because 
 we are crossed in outward things, when as this issues 
 from God's wisdom and love. How many imagine 
 theiv failings to he fallings, and their fallings to be 
 fallings away ? Infirmities to be presumptions : 
 every sin against conscience, to be the sin against the 
 Holy Ghost ? unto which misapprehensions, weak 
 and dark spirits are subject. And Satan, as a cun- 
 ning rhetorician, here inlargeth the fancy, to appre- 
 hend things bigger than they are. Satan abuseth 
 confident spirits another contrary way ; to apprehend 
 great sins as little, and little as none. Some also 
 think that they have no grace, because they have not 
 so much as grown Christians : whereas, there be se- 
 veral ages in Christ. Some again are so desirous 
 
16 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 and inlarged after what they have not, that they 
 mind not what they have. Men may be rich, though 
 they have no milHons, and be not emperors. 
 
 Likewise, some are much troubled, because they 
 proceed by a false method and order in judging of 
 their estates. They will begin with election, which 
 is the highest step of the ladder ; whereas they should 
 begin from a work of grace wrought within their hearts, 
 from God's calling them by his Spirit, and their answer 
 to his call, and so raise themselves upwards to know 
 their election by their answer to God's calHng. Give 
 all diligence, saith Peter, to make your calling and 
 election sure, 2 Pet. i : your election by your calling, 
 God descends down unto us from election to calling : 
 and so to sanctification : we must ascend to him be- 
 ginning where he ends. Otherwise it is as great folly 
 as in removing of a pile of wood, to begin at the lowest 
 first, and so, besides the needless trouble, to be in dan- 
 ger to have the rest to fall upon our heads. Which be- 
 sides ignorance argues pride, appearing in this, that 
 they would bring God to their conceits, and be at an 
 end of their work before they begin. 
 
 This great secret of God's eternal love to us in Christ, 
 is hidden in his breast, and doth not appear to us, 
 until in the use of means God by his Spirit discovereth 
 the same to us ; the Spirit letteth into the soul so 
 much Hfe and sense of God's love in particular to us, 
 as draweth the soul to Christ, from whom it draweth 
 so much virtue as changeth the frame of it, and quick- 
 eneth it to duty, which duties are not grounds of our 
 state in grace, but issues, springing from a good state 
 before, and thus far they help us, in judging of our 
 condition, that though they be not to be rested in, yet 
 as streams they lead us to the spring-head of grace 
 from whence they arise. 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 17 
 
 And of signs, some be more apt to deceive us, as 
 being not so certain, as delight and joy in hearing 
 the word, Matt. xiii. 20, as appeareth in the third 
 ground : some are more constant and certain, as love 
 to those that are truly good, and to all such, and be- 
 cause they are such, <&:c. these as they are wrought 
 by the Spirit, so the same Spirit giveth evidence to 
 the soul of the truth of them, and leadeth us to faith 
 from whence they come, and faith leads us to the 
 discovery of God's love made known to us in hearing 
 the word opened. The same Spirit openeth the truth 
 to us, and our understandings to conceive of it, and 
 our hearts to close with it by faith, not only as a truth, 
 but as a truth belonging to us. 
 
 Now this faith is manifested, either by itself reflect- 
 ing upon itself the hght of faith, discovering both it- 
 self and other things, or by the cause of it, or by the 
 effect, or by all. Faith is oft more known to us in 
 the fruit of it, than in itself; as in plants, the fruits 
 are more apparent than the sap and root. But the 
 most settled knowledge is from the cause, as when I 
 know I believe, because in hearing God's gracious 
 promises opened and offered unto me, the Spirit of 
 God carrieth my soul to cleave to them as mine own 
 portion. Yet the most familiar way of knowledge of 
 our estates is from the effects to gather the cause, the 
 cause being oftentimes more remote and spiritual, the 
 effects more obvious and visible. All the vigour and 
 beauty in nature which we see, comes from a secret 
 influence from the heavens which we see not: in a 
 clear morning we may see the beams of the sun shin- 
 ing upon the top of hills and houses before we can 
 see the sun itself. 
 
 Things in the working of them, do issue from the 
 c 
 
18 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 cause, by whose force they had their being ; but our 
 knowing of things ariseth from the effect, where the 
 cause endeth ; we know God must love us before we 
 can love him, and yet we oft Jirst know that we love 
 him, 1 John, iv. 19 ; the love of God is the cause why 
 we love our brother, and yet we know we love our 
 brother whom we see more clearly, than God whom 
 we do not see, ver. 20. 
 
 It is a spiritual peevishness that keeps men in a 
 perplexed condition, that they neglect these helps 
 to judge of their estates by, whereas God takes hberty 
 to help us sometime to a discovery of our estate by 
 the effects, sometimes by the cause, &c. And it is a 
 sin to set hght by any work of the Spirit, and the 
 comfort we might have by it, and therefore we may 
 well add this as one cause of disquietness in many, 
 that they grieve the Spirit, by quarrelling against 
 themselves, and the work of the Spirit in them. 
 
 Another cause of disquiet is, that men by a natural 
 kind of Popery seek for their comfort too much in sane- 
 tification, neglecting justification, relying too much 
 upon their own performances ; Saint Paul was of 
 another mind, accounting all but dung and dross, 
 compared to the righteousness of Christ. This is 
 that garment, wherewith being decked we please our 
 husband, and wherein we get the blessing. Tliis 
 giveth satisfaction to the conscience, as satisfying 
 God himself, being performed by God the Son, and 
 approved therefore by God the Father : Hereupon 
 the soul is quieted, and faith holdeth out this as a 
 shield against the displeasure of God and temptations 
 of Satan : Why did the apostles in their prefaces 
 join grace and peace together, but that we should 
 seek for our peace in the free grace and favour of God 
 in Christ ? 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. ID 
 
 No wonder why Papists maintain doubting, who 
 hold salvation by works ; because Satan joining to- 
 gether with our consciences, will always find some 
 flaw even in our best performances ; hereupon the 
 doubting and misgiving soul comes to make this ab- 
 surd demand, as Who shall ascend to Heaven ? Psal. 
 xxiv. 3, which is all one as to fetch Christ from Hea- 
 ven, and so bring him down to suffer on the cross 
 ag-ain. Whereas if we believe in Christ, we are as 
 sure to come to Heaven as Christ is there : Christ 
 ascending and descending with all that he hath done 
 is ours. So that neither heighth nor depth can sepa 
 rate us from God's love in Christ, Rom. viii. 39. 
 
 But we must remember, though the main pillar of 
 our comfort be in the free forgiveness of our sins ; 
 yet if there be a neglect in growing in holiness, the 
 soul will never be soundly quiet, because it will be 
 prone to question the truth of justification, and it is 
 as proper for sin to raise doubts and fears in the con- 
 science, as for rotten flesh and wood to breed worms. 
 And therefore we may well join this as a cause of 
 disquietness, the neglect of keeping a clear con- 
 science. Sin, like Achan, or Jonas in the ship, is 
 that which causeth storms within and without ; where 
 there is not a pure conscience, there is not a pacified 
 conscience, and therefore though some thinking to 
 save themselves whole in justification, neglect the 
 cleansing of their natures, and ordering of their lives : 
 yet in time of temptation, they will find it more trou- 
 blesome than they think. For a conscience guilty 
 of many neglects, and of allowing itself in any sin, 
 to lay claim to God's mercy, is to do as we see 
 mountebanks sometimes do, who wound their flesh 
 to try conclusions upon their own bodies, how sove- 
 
20 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 reign the salve is ; yet oftentimes they come to feel 
 the smart of their presumption, by long and desperate 
 wounds. So God will let us see what it is to make 
 wounds to try the preciousness of his balm : such 
 may go mourning to their graves. And though, per- 
 haps, with much wresthng with God, they may get 
 assurance of the pardon of their sins, yet their con- 
 science will be still trembling, like as David's, though 
 Nathan had pronounced unto him the forgiveness of 
 his sin. Psalm li., till God at length speaks further 
 peace, even as the water of the sea, after a storm, is 
 not presently still, but moves and trembles a good 
 while after the storm is over. A Christian is a new 
 creature, and walketh by rule, and so far as he 
 walketh according to his rule peace is upon him, Gal. 
 vi. 16. Loose walkers, that regard not their way, 
 must think to meet with sorrows instead of peace. 
 Watchfulness is the preserver of peace. It is a deep 
 spiritual judgment to find peace in an ill way. 
 
 Some, again, reap the fruit of their ignorance of 
 Christian liberty, hyunnecessdiYy scruples and doubts. 
 It is both unthankfulness to God, and wrong to our- 
 selves, to be ignorant of the extent of Christian liberty, 
 it makes melody to Satan, to see Christians troubled 
 with that they neither should or need. Yet there is 
 danger in stretching Christian liberty beyond the 
 bounds. For a man may condemn himself in that he 
 approves, as in not walking circumspectly in regard 
 of circumstances, and so breed his own disquiet, and 
 give scandal to others. 
 
 Sometimes also, God suffers men to be disquieted 
 for want of employment, who in shunning labour, 
 procure trouble to themselves ; and by not doing that 
 which is needful, they are troubled with that which 
 
THE SOUL*S CONFLICT. 21 
 
 is unnecessary. An unemployed life is a burden to 
 itself, God is a pure act, always working, always 
 doing ; and the nearer our soul comes to God, the 
 more it is an action, and the freer from disquiet. 
 Men experimentally feel that comfort in doing that 
 which belongs unto them, which before they longed 
 for, and went without ; a heart not exercised in some 
 honest labour, works trouble out of itself. 
 
 Again, omission of duties and offices of love often 
 troubles the peace of good people; for even in the time 
 of death, when they look for peace and desire it most, 
 then looking back upon their former failings, and 
 seeing opportunity of doing good wanting to their 
 desire, (the parties perhaps being deceased to whom 
 they owed more respect) are hereupon much disquieted, 
 and so much the more, because they see now hope 
 of the like advantages cut off. 
 
 A Christian life is full of duties, and the peace of 
 it is not maintained without much fruitfulness and 
 looking about us : debt is a disquieting thing to an 
 honest mind, and duty is debt. Hereupon the apostle 
 layeth the charge, that we should owe nothing to any 
 man but love, Rom. xiii. 8. 
 
 Again, one special cause of too much disquiet is, 
 want of firm resolution in good things. The soul 
 cannot but be disquieted when it knows not what to 
 cleave unto, like a ship tossed with contrary winds : 
 halting is a deformed and troublesome gesture; so 
 halting in religion is not only troublesome to others, 
 and odious, but also disquiets ourselves. If God be 
 Gody cleave to him,, 1 Kings, xviii. 21. If the duties 
 of rehgion be such as will bring peace of conscience 
 at the length, be religious to purpose, practise them in 
 the particular passages of life. We should labour to 
 
22 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 have a clear judgment, and from thence a resolved 
 purpose; a wavering minded man is inconstant in 
 all his ways, James, i. 6. God will not speak peace 
 to a staggering^ spirit that hath always its religion, 
 and its way, to choose. Uncertain men are always 
 unquiet men : and giving too much way to passion 
 maketh men in particular consultations unsettled. 
 This is the reason why in particular cases, when the 
 matter concerns ourselves, we cannot judge so clearly 
 as in general truths, because Satan raiseth a mist be- 
 tween us and the matter in question. 
 
 Two Positive Causes 
 
 May be, 1. When men lay up their comfort too 
 much on outward things, which being subject to much 
 inconstancy and change, breed disquiet. Vexation 
 always follows vanity, when vanity is not apprehend- 
 ed to be where it is. In that measure we are cast 
 down in the disappointing of our hopes, as we were 
 too much lifted up in expectation of good from them. 
 Whence proceed these complaints : Such a friend hath 
 failed me ; I never thought to have fallen into this 
 condition ; I had settled my joy in this child, in this 
 friend, &c. but this is to build our comfort upon things 
 that have no firm foundation, to build castles in the 
 air (as we use to say). Therefore it is a good desire 
 of the wise man Agur, to desire God, to remove from 
 fis vanity and lies, Prov. xxx. ; that is, a vain and false 
 apprehension pitching upon things that are vain and 
 lying, promising a contentment to ourselves from the 
 creature, which it cannot yield ; confidence in vain 
 things makes a vain heart, the heart becoming of the 
 nature of the thing it relies on : we may say of all 
 earthly things as the Prophet speaketh, Here is not 
 our rest, Mic. ii. 10. 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. , 23 
 
 It is no wonder, therefore, that worldly men are oft 
 cast down and disquieted, when they walk in a vain 
 shadow, Psal. xxxix. as hkewise that men given much 
 to recreations should be subject to passionate distem- 
 per, because here things fall out otherwise than they 
 looked for : recreations being about matters that are 
 variable, which especially falls out in games of hazard, 
 wherein they oft spare not Divine Providence itself, 
 but break out into blasphemy. 
 
 Likewise men that grasp more businesses than they 
 can discharge, must needs bear both the blame and 
 the grief of losing or marring many businesses. It 
 being almost impossible to do many things so well as 
 to give content to conscience : hence it is that covet- 
 ous and busy men trouble both their hearts and their 
 houses ; though some men from a largeness of parts, 
 and a special dexterity in affairs, may turn overmuch ; 
 yet the most capacious heart hath its measure, and 
 when the cup is full, a little drop may cause the rest 
 to spill. There is a spiritual surfeit, when the soul is 
 overcharged with business; it is fit the soul should 
 have its meet burthen and no more. 
 
 As likewise, those that depend too much upon the 
 opinions of other men : A very little matter will refresh, 
 and then again discourage a mind that rests too much 
 upon the hking of others. Men that seek themselves 
 disquieted abroad, find themselves too much at home ; 
 even good men many times are too much troubled 
 with the unjust censures of other men, specially in the 
 day of their trouble : It was Job's case; and it is a 
 heavy thing to have affliction added to affliction : It 
 was Hannah's case, who being troubled'in spirit, was 
 censured by EU, for distemper in brain, 1. Sam. i. 14 ; 
 but for vain men who live more to reputation than to 
 
24 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 conscience, it cannot be that they should long enjoy 
 settled quiet, because those in whose good opinion 
 they desire to dwell, are ready often to take up con- 
 trary conceits upon slender grounds. 
 
 It is also a ground of overmuch trouble, when we 
 look too much and too long upon the ill in ourselves 
 and abroad ; we may fix our eyes too long even upon 
 sin itself, considering that we have not only a remedy 
 against the hurt by sin, but a commandment to rejoice 
 always in the Lord, Phihp. iv. 4. Much more may we 
 err in poring too much upon our afflictions ; wherein 
 we may find always in ourselves upon search a cause 
 to justify God, and always something left to comfort 
 us : though we naturally mind more one cross than 
 a hundred favours, dwelling over long upon the sore. 
 
 So likewise, our minds may be too much taken up 
 in consideration of the miseries of the times at home 
 and abroad, as if Christ did not rule in the midst of 
 his enemies, and would not help all in due time ; or 
 as if the condition of the church in this world were 
 not for the most part in an afflicted and conflicted 
 condition. Indeed there is a perfect rest both for the 
 souls and bodies of God's people, but that is not in 
 this world, but is kept for hereafter, here we are in a 
 sea, where what can we look for, but storms ? 
 
 To insist upon no more, one cause is, that we do 
 usurp upon God, and take his office upon us, by 
 troubling ourselves in forecasting the event of things, 
 whereas our work is only to do our work and be 
 quiet, as children when they please their parents take 
 no further thought ; our trouble is the fruit of our folly 
 in this kind. 
 
 That which we should observe from all that hath 
 been said is, that we be not over hasty in censuring 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 25 
 
 others, when we see their spirits out of temper, for we 
 see how many things there are that work strongly 
 upon the weak nature of man. We may sin more by 
 harsh censure, than they by overmuch distemper : 
 as in Job's case it was a matter rather of just grief 
 and pity, than great wonder or heavy censure. 
 
 And, for ourselves : if our estate be calm for the 
 present, yet we should labour to prepare our hearts, 
 not only for an alteration of estate, but of spirit, un- 
 less we be marvellous careful beforehand, that our 
 spirits fall not down with our condition. And if it 
 befalls us to find it otherwise with our souls than at 
 other times, we should so far labour to bear it, as 
 that we do not judge it our own case alone, when we 
 see here David thus to complain of himself, w Ay art 
 thou cast down, my soul ? &c. 
 
 CHAP. IV. »- o^^^^^ 
 
 Of casting down ourselves, and specially by sorroiiit^QY^ * 
 Evils thereof, 
 
 nr^O return again to the words, why art thou cast 
 JL down, O my soul? &c, or, why dost thou cast 
 down thyself? or, art cast down by thyself? Whence 
 we may further observe ; that we are prone to cast 
 down ourselves, we are accessory to our own trouble, 
 and weave the web of our own sorrow, and hamper 
 ourselves in the cords of our own twining. God nei- 
 ther loves nor wills that we should be too much cast 
 down. We see our Saviour Christ how careful he 
 was that his disciples should not be troubled, and 
 therefore he labours to prevent that trouble which 
 might arise by his suffering and departure from them, 
 by a heavenly sermon ; let not your hearts be trou- 
 
26 THE SOUL^S CONFLICT. 
 
 bled, &c. John xiv. 1. He was troubled himself, that 
 we should not be troubled : the ground therefore of 
 our disquiet is chiefly from ourselves, though Satan 
 will have a hand in it. We see many, like sullen 
 birds in a cage, beat themselves to death. This cast- 
 ing down of ourselves is not from humility, but from 
 pride ; we must have our will, or God shall not have 
 a good look from us, but as pettish and peevish chil- 
 dren, we hang our heads in our bosom, because our 
 wills are crossed. 
 
 Therefore in all our troubles we should look first 
 home to our own hearts, and stop the storm there ; 
 for we may thank our own selves, not only for our 
 troubles, but likewise for overmuch troubling our- 
 selves in trouble. It was not the troubled condition 
 that so disquieted David's soul, for if he had had a 
 quiet mind, it would not have troubled him. But 
 David yielded to the discouragements of the flesh, 
 and the flesh (so far as it is unsubdued) is like the sea 
 that is always casting mire and dirt of doubts, dis- 
 couragements, and murmurings in the soul : let us 
 therefore lay the blame where it is to be laid. 
 
 Again, we see, it is the nature of sorrow to cast 
 down, as of joy to lift up. Grief is like lead to the 
 soul, heavy and cold ; it sinks downwards, and car- 
 ries the soul with it. The poor publican, to shew that 
 his soul was cast down under the sight of his sins, 
 hung down his head, Luke xviii. 13; the position of 
 his body was suitable to the disposition of his mind, 
 his heart and head were cast down alike. And it is 
 Satan's practice to go over the hedge where it is low- 
 est : he adds more weights to the soul, by his tenta- 
 tions and vexations. His sin cast him out of Heaven, 
 and by his temptations, he cast us out of our Para- 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 27 
 
 dise, and ever since, he labours to cast us deeper into 
 sin, wherein his scope is, to cast us either into too 
 much trouble for sin, or presumption in sin, which is 
 but a lifting up, to cast us down into deep despair at 
 length, and so at last, if God's mercy stop not his 
 mahce, he will cast us as low as himself, even into 
 hell itself. 
 
 Tlie ground hereof is because as the joy of the 
 Lord doth strengthen, so doth sorrow weaken the 
 sauL How doth it weaken ? 
 
 1. By weakening the execution of the functions 
 thereof, because it drinketh up the spirits, which are 
 the instmments of the soul. 
 
 2. Because it contracteth, and draweth the soul into 
 itself from communion of that comfort it might have 
 with God or man. And then the soul being left alone, 
 ifitfalleth, hath none to raise it up, Eccl. iv. 10. 
 
 Therefore, if we will prevent casting down, let us 
 jjr event grief the cause of it, and sin the cause of that. 
 Experience proves that true which the wise man says, 
 Heaviness in the heart of a man makes it stoop, but 
 a good word 7nakes it better, Prov. xii. 25. It bows 
 down the soul, and therefore our blessed Saviour in- 
 viteth such unto him; Come unto me^ ye who are 
 heavy laden with the burden of your sins, Matt. xi. 
 The body bends under a heavy burden, so likewise 
 the soul hath its burden, Why art thou cast down, 
 my soul? why so disquieted? &c. 
 
 Whence we see, 1. that casting down breeds dis- 
 quieting : because it springs from pride, which is a 
 turbulent passion, when as men cannot stoop to that 
 condition which God would have them in ; this pro- 
 ceeds from discontentment, and that from pride. As 
 we see, a vapour inclosed in a cloud causeth a terrible 
 
28 THE soul's CO^^FLICT. 
 
 noise of thunder, whilst it is pent up there, and seeketh 
 a vent ; so all the noise within proceeds from a discon- 
 tented swelling vapour. It is air inclosed in the bowels 
 of the earth which shakes it, which all the four winds 
 cannot do. 
 
 No creature under heaven so low cast down as 
 Satan, none more lifted up in pride, none so full of 
 discord; the impurest spirits are the most disquiet 
 and stormy spirits, troublesome to themselves and 
 others ; for when the soul leaves God once, and looks 
 downwards, what is there to stay it from disquiet? 
 Remove the needle from the pole star, and it is always 
 stirring and trembling, never quiet till it be right 
 again. So, displace the soul by taking it from God, 
 and it will never be quiet. The devil cast out of 
 Heaven and out of the Church, keeps ado ; so do un- 
 ruly spirits led by him. 
 
 Noiv I come to the remedies, 
 
 1. By expostulation with himself, 
 
 2. By laying a charge upon himself: 
 ( Trust in God) 
 
 It is supposed here, that there is no reason, which 
 the wisdom from above allows to be a reason, why 
 men should be discouraged although the wisdom from 
 beneath, which takes part with our corruption, will 
 seldom want a plea. Nay, there is not only no rea- 
 son for it, but there are strong reasons against it, there 
 being a world of evil in it. 
 
 For, 1. It indisposes a man to all good duties, it 
 makes him like an instrument out of tune, and Hke a 
 body out of joint, that moveth both uncomely and pain- 
 fully. It unfits to duties to God, who loves a cheerful 
 giver, and especially a thanksgiver. Whereupon the 
 apostle joins them both together, In all things be thank- 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 29 
 
 ful, and rejoice evermore^ 1 Thess. v. In our commu- 
 nion with God in the sacraments, joy is a chief ingredi- 
 ent. So in duties to men, if the spirit be dejected, they 
 are unwelcome, and lose the greatest part of their life 
 and grace ; a cheerful and a free spirit in duty is that 
 which is most accepted in duty. We observe not so 
 much what, as from what affection a thing is done. 
 
 2. It is a great wrong to God himself, and it makes 
 us conceive black thoughts of him, as if He were an 
 enemy. What an injury is it to a gracious father, 
 that such whom he hath followed with many gracious 
 evidences of his favour and love, should be in so ill a 
 frame, as once to call it into question ? 
 
 3. So, it makes a man forgetful of all former bless- 
 ings, and stops the influence of God's grace, for the 
 time present, and for that to come. 
 
 4. So again, for receiving of good : It makes us 
 unfit to receive mercies ; a quiet soul is the seat of 
 wisdom. Therefore, meekness is required for the re- 
 ceiving of that engrafted word which is able to save 
 our souls, James, i. 21. Till the spirit of God meekens 
 the soul, say what you will, it minds nothing, the soul 
 is not empty and quiet enough to receive the seed of 
 the Word. It is ill sowing in a storm ; so a stormy 
 spirit will not suffer the Word to take place. Men 
 are deceived when they think a dejected spirit to be 
 an humble spirit. Indeed it is so when we are cast 
 down in the sense of our own unworthiness, and then 
 as much raised up in the confidence of God's mercy. 
 But when we cast ourselves down sullenly, and neglect 
 our comforts, or undervalue them, it proceeds from 
 pride, for it controls, as much as in us lies, the wisdom 
 and justice of God, when we think with ourselves, why 
 should it be so with us ? as if we were wiser to dispose 
 
30 THE soul's CONFLICT. 
 
 of ourselves than God is. It disposeth us for enter- 
 taining any temptation. Satan hath never more ad- 
 vantage than upon discontent. 
 
 5. Besides, it keeps off beginners from coming in, 
 and entering into the vi^ays of God, bringing an ill 
 report upon rehgion, causing men to charge it falsely 
 for an uncomfortable way, when as men never feel 
 what true comfort meaneth till they give up themselves 
 to God. And it damps likewise the spirits of those 
 that walk the same way with us, when as we should 
 (as good travellers) cheer up one another both by word 
 and example. In such a case, the wheels of the soul 
 are taken off, or else (as it were) want oil, whereby the 
 soul passeth on very heavily, and no good action comes 
 off from it as it should, which breeds not only uncom- 
 fortableness but unsettledness in good courses. For 
 a man will never go on comfortably and constantly 
 in that which he heavily undertakes. That is the rea- 
 son why uncheerful spirits seldom hold out as they 
 should. St. Peter knew this well, and therefore he 
 willeth that there should be quietness and peace be- 
 twixt husband and wife, that their prayers be not 
 hindered, 1 Pet. iii. ; insinuating that their prayers are 
 hindered by family breaches. For by that means, those 
 two, that should be one flesh and spirit, are divided, 
 and so made two, and when they should mind duty, 
 their mind is taken up with wrongs done by the one 
 to the other. 
 
 There is nothing more required for the performing 
 of holy duties than uniting of spirits ; and therefore 
 God would not have the sacrifice brought to the altar, 
 before reconciliation with our brother, Matt, v. 24. 
 He esteems peace so highly, that he will have his own 
 service stay for it. We see when Moses came to de- 
 
THE soul's conflict. 31 
 
 liver the Israelites out of bondage, their mind was so 
 taken up with their grief, that there was nobody within 
 to give Moses an answer, their souls went ahogether 
 after their ill usage. 
 
 Therefore we should all endeavour and labour for 
 a calmed spirit, that we may the better serve God in 
 praying to him, and praising of him ; and serve one 
 another in love, that we may be fitted to do and re- 
 ceive good : that we may make our passage to Hea- 
 ven more easy and cheerful, without drooping and 
 hanging the wing. So much as we are quiet and 
 cheerful upon good grounds, so much we hve, and 
 are as it were in Heaven. So much as we yield to 
 discouragement, we lose so much of our life and hap- 
 piness, cheerfulness being, as it were, that life of our 
 lives, and the spirit of our spirits, by which they are 
 more enlarged to receive happiness and to express it. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Remedies of casting down : to cite the Soul, and 
 press it to give an Account, 
 
 BUT to come to some helps : 
 First, in that he expostulates with himself, we 
 may observe, that One waij to raise a dejected soul 
 is, to cite it before itself, and as it ivere to reason 
 the case, God hath set up a court in man's heart, 
 wherein the conscience hath the office, both of infor- 
 mer, accuser, witness, dind judge ; and if matters were 
 well carried within ourselves, this prejudging would 
 be a prevention of future judging. It is a great 
 mercy of God, that the credit and comfort of man 
 are so provided for, that he may take up matters in 
 himself, and so prevent public disgrace. But if there 
 
32 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 be not a fair dispatch and transaction in this inferior 
 court within us, there will be a review in a higher 
 court. Thereby by slubbering over our matters, we put 
 God and ourselves to more trouble than needs. For a 
 judgment must pass first or last, either within us or 
 without us, upon all unwarrantable distempers. We 
 must not only be ready to give an account of our 
 faith, upon what grounds we believe ; but of all our 
 actions, upon what grounds we do what we do ; and 
 of OUT passions, upon what ground we are passionate : 
 as in a well governed state, uproar and sedition is never 
 stirred, but account must be given. Now in a mutiny, 
 the presence and speech of a venerable man compose 
 the minds of the disordered multitude ; so likewise in 
 a mutiny of the spirit, the authority that God hath 
 put into reason, as a beam of himself, commands si- 
 lence, and puts all in order again. 
 
 And there is good reason for it, for man is an un- 
 derstanding creature, and hath a rule given him to 
 live by, and therefore is to be countable of every 
 thought, word, action, passion. Therefore the first 
 way to quiet the soul, is, to ask a reason of the tu- 
 mult raised, and then many of our distempers for 
 shame will not appear, because, though they rage in 
 silent darkness, yet they can say nothing for them- 
 selves, being summoned before strength of judgment 
 and reason. Which is the reason why passionate 
 men are loath that any court should be kept within 
 them ; but labour to stop judgment all they can. If 
 men would but give themselves leave to consider bet- 
 ter of it, they would never yield to such unreasonable 
 motions of the soul : if they could but gain so much of 
 their unruly passions, as to reason the matter within 
 themselves, to hear what their consciences can tell 
 
THE soul's conflict. 33 
 
 them in secret, there would not be such offensive 
 breakings out. And therefore, if we be ashamed to 
 hear others upbraiding us, let us for shame hear our- 
 selves : and if no reason can be given, what an unrea- 
 sonable thing is it for a man endowed with reason to 
 contrary his own principles ? and to be carried as a 
 beast without reason ; or if there be any reason to be 
 given, then this is the way to scan it, see whether it 
 will hold water or not. We shall find some reasons, 
 if they may be so called, to be so corrupt and foul, 
 that (if the judgment be not corrupted by them) they 
 dare not be brought to light, but always appear under 
 some colour and pretext; for sin, hke the devil, is 
 afraid to appear in its own likeness, and men seek 
 out fair glosses for foul intentions. The hidden secret 
 reason is one, the open is another : the heart being 
 corrupt sets the wit awork, to satisfy corrupt will ; 
 such kind of men are afraid of their own consciences, 
 as Ahab of Michaiah, 1 Kin, xxii. because they fear it 
 would deal truly with them : and therefore they take 
 either present order for their consciences, or else (as 
 Felix put off Paul, Acts xxiv. 25) they adjourn the 
 court for another time. Such men are strangers at 
 home, afraid of nothing more than themselves, and 
 therefore in a fearful condition, because they are re- 
 served for the judgment of the great day, if God 
 doth not before that set upon them in this world. If 
 men carried away with their own lusts would give 
 but a little check, and stop themselves in their post- 
 ing to hell, and ask. What have I done ? What am 
 I now about ? Whither will this course tend ? How 
 will it end ? &c. Undoubtedly men would begin to 
 be wise. Would the blasphemer give away his soul 
 for nothing (for there is no engagement of profit or 
 
 D 
 
84 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 pleasure in this, as in other sins, but it issues merely 
 out of irreverence, and a superfluity of profaneness ;) 
 would he, I say, draw so heavy a guilt upon himself 
 for nothing, if he would but make use of his reason ? 
 would an old man, when he is very near his journey's 
 end, make longer provision for a short way, if he 
 would ask himself a reason ? But indeed covetous- 
 ness is an unreasonable vice. 
 
 If those also of the younger sort would ask of them- 
 selves. Why God should not have the flower and 
 marrow of their age? and why they should give their 
 strength to the devil ? It might a little take them 
 off from the devil's service. But sin is a work of 
 darkness, and therefore shuns not only the light of 
 grace, but even the light of reason. Yet sin seldom 
 wants a seeming reason. Men will not go to hell with- 
 out a shew of reason. But such be sophistical fal- 
 lacies, not reasons ; and therefore sinners are said to 
 play the sophisters with themselves : Satan could not 
 deceive us, unless we deceived ourselves first, and are 
 willingly deceived: wilful sinners are blind, because 
 they put out the light of reason, and so think God, 
 like themselves, blind too. Psalm 1 ; and therefore 
 they are deservedly termed madmen and fools; for, 
 did they but make use of that spark of reason, it 
 would teach them to reason thus ; / cannot give an 
 account of my ways to myself: what account shall 
 /, or can /, give then to the Judge of all flesh ere 
 it be long. 
 
 And as it is a ground of repentance, in stopping 
 our course to ask. What have I done ? So likewise 
 of faith and new obedience, to ask, what shall I do 
 for the time to come ? and then upon settHug, the 
 soul in way of thanks will be ready to ask of itself. 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 35 
 
 What shall I return to the Lord? &c. So that the 
 soul by this dealing with itself, promoteth itself to all 
 holy duties till it come to Heaven. 
 
 The reason why we are thus backward to the keeping 
 of this court in ourselves, is self-love ; we love to flatter 
 our own affections, but this self-love is but self-hatred 
 in the end ; as the Wiseman says, he that regards not 
 this part of wisdom, hates his own soul, and shall 
 eat the fruits of his own ways. 
 
 2. As likewise it issues from an irksomeness of la- 
 bour, which makes us rather wilKng to seem base and 
 vile to ourselves and others, than to take pains with 
 our own hearts to be better, as those that are weary 
 of holding the reins give them up unto the horse neck, 
 and so are driven whither the rage of the horse carrieth 
 them : sparing a little trouble at first, doubles it in 
 the end; as he who will not take the pains to cast up 
 his books, his books will cast up him in the end. It 
 is a blessed trouble that brings sound and long peace, 
 1 Cor. xi. 31 : This labour saves God a labour, for there- 
 fore he judgeth us, because we would not take pains 
 with ourselves before. 
 
 3. And pride also, with a desire of liberty, makes 
 men think it to be a diminishing of greatness and free- 
 dom either to be curbed, or to curb ourselves : We 
 love to be absolute and independent; but this, as it 
 brought ruin upon our nature in Adam, so it will upon 
 our persons. Men, as Luther was wont to say, are 
 born with a pope in their belly, they are loath to give 
 an account, although it be to themselves, their wills 
 are instead of a kingdom to them. 
 
 Let us therefore, when any lawless passions begin 
 to stir, deal with our souls as God did with Jonah, 
 Doest thou well to be angry? Jonah, iv. to fret thus? 
 
^6 THE soul's CONFLICT. 
 
 This will be a means t^^make us quiet : for, alas ! 
 what weak reasons h ve we often of strong motions ; 
 such a man gave me no respect, such another looked 
 more kindly upon another man than upon me, &c. 
 You have some of Haman's spirit, Esther, v. that for 
 a little neglect would ruin a whole nation. Passion 
 presents men that are innocent as guilty to us ; and 
 because we will not seem to be mad without reason, 
 pride commands the wit to justify anger, and so one 
 passion maintains and feeds another. 
 
 Neither is it sufficient to cite the soul before itself; 
 but it must be pressed to give an accouiity as we see 
 here, David doubles and trebles the expostulation ; as 
 oft as any distemper did arise, so oft did he labour to 
 keep it down. If passions grow too insolent, Eli*s 
 mildness will do no good, 1 Sam, ii. 24. It would pre- 
 vent much trouble in this kind, to subdue betimes, in 
 ourselves and others, the first beginnings of any unruly 
 passions and affections; which if they be not well 
 tutored and disciplined at the first, prove as head- 
 strong, unruly, and ill nurtured children, who, being 
 not chastened in time, take such a head, that it is oft 
 above the power of parents to bring them in order. 
 A child set at liberty (saith Solomon) breeds shame , 
 at length, to his parents, Prov. xxix. 15. Adonia's 
 example shews this. The like may be said of the af- 
 fections set at liberty ; it is dangerous to redeem a 
 little quiet by yielding to our affections, which is never 
 safely gotten but by mortification of them. 
 
 Those that are in great place are most in danger, 
 by yielding to themselves, to lose themselves ; for they 
 are so taken up with the person for a time put upon 
 them, that they, both in look and speech, and carriage, 
 often shew that they forget both their natural condi- 
 
THE SOUL S conflict; 37 
 
 tion as men, and much more their supernatural as 
 Christians ; and therefore are sCarce counselable by 
 others or themselves, in thoser things that concern 
 their severed condition that concerneth another world. 
 Whereas it were most wisdom so to think of their place 
 they bear, whereby they are called ^o^Z^, Psal. Ixxxii. 
 6, 7, as not to forget they must lay their person aside, 
 and die like men, 2 Sam. xxiv. 4 : David himself that 
 in his afflicted condition could advise with himself, 
 and check himself, yet in his free and flourishing estate 
 neglected the counsel of his friends. Agur was in 
 jealousy of a full condition, and lest instead of saying, 
 What have I done ? why am I thus cast down ? &c. 
 he should say. Who is the Lord? Prov. xxx. 9. 
 
 Meaner men in their lesser sphere often shew what 
 their spirits would be, if their compass were enlarged. 
 
 It is a great fault in breeding youth, for fear of 
 taking down of their spirits, not to take down their 
 pride, and get victory of their affections ; whereas a 
 proud unbroken heart raiseth us more trouble often 
 than all the world beside. Of all troubles, the trouble 
 of a proud heart is the greatest : It was a great trouble 
 to Haman to lead Mordecai's horse, Esth, vi. 1. which 
 another man would not have thought so ; the mov- 
 ing of a straw is troublesome to proud flesh. And 
 therefore it is good to bea?- the yoke from our youth, 
 Lam. iii. 27 : it is better to be taken down in youth, 
 than to be broken in pieces by great crosses in age. 
 First or last, self-denial and victory over ourselves is 
 absolutely necessary ; otherwise faith, which is a 
 grace that requireth self-denial, will never be brought 
 into the soul, and bear rule there. 
 
 But, what if pressing upon our souls will not help ? 
 . Then speak to God, to Jesus Christ by prayer, 
 
38 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 that as he rebuked the winds and the waves, and 
 went upon the sea, so he would walk upon our souls, 
 and command a calm there. It is no less power to 
 settle a peace in the soul, than to command the seas 
 to be quiet. It is God's prerogative to rule in the 
 heart, as likewise to give it up to itself, which (next 
 to Hell) is the greatest judgment ; which should draw 
 us to the greater reverence and fear of displeasing 
 God. It was no ill wish of him, that desired God to 
 free him from an ill man, himself. 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 Other Observations of the same nature, 
 
 MOREOVER we see that a godly man can cast 
 a restraint upon himself , as David here stays 
 himself in falling. There is a principle of grace, that 
 stops the heart, and pulls in the reins again when the 
 affections are loose. A carnal man, when he begins 
 to be cast down, sinks lower and lower, until he sinks 
 into despair, as lead sinks into the bottom of the sea. 
 They sunk, they sunk, like lead in the mighty wa- 
 ters, Exod. XV. 5. A carnal man sinks as a heavy body 
 to the centre of the earth, and stays not, if it be not 
 stopped : there is nothing in him to stay him in falling, 
 as we see in Achitophel and Saul, 2 Sam, xvii. 23 : who 
 (wanting a support) found no other stay, but the 
 sword's point. And the greater their parts and placed 
 are, the more they entangle themselves ; and no won- 
 der, for they are to encounter with God and his de- 
 puty, conscience, who is King of kings, and Lord of 
 lords. When Cain was cast out of his father's house, 
 his heart and countenance was always cast down ; 
 for he had nothing in him to lift it upwards. But 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 39 
 
 a godly man, though he may give a httle way to pas- 
 sion, yet (as David) he recovers himself. Therefore 
 as we would have any good evidence, that we have 
 a better spirit in us than our own, greater than the 
 flesh or the world, let us (in all troubles we meet 
 with) gather up ourselves, that the stream of our own 
 affections carry us not away too far. 
 
 There is an art or skill of bearing troubles, if we 
 eould learn it, without overmuch troubling of our- 
 selves ; as in bearing of a burthen there is a way so 
 to poise it, that it weigheth not over heavy : if it 
 hangs all on one side, it poises the body down. The 
 greater part of our troubles we pull upon ourselves, 
 by not parting our care so, as to take upon us only 
 the care of duty, and leave the rest to God ; and by 
 minghng our passions with our crosses ; and, like a 
 foolish patient, chewing the pills which we should 
 swallow down. We dwell too much upon the grief, 
 when we should remove the soul higher. We are 
 nearest neighbours unto ourselves; when we suffer 
 grief, like a canker, to eat into the soul, and like a 
 fire in the bones, to consume the marrow and drink 
 up the spirits, we are accessory to the wrong done 
 both to our bodies and souls : we waste our own can- 
 dle, and put out our light. 
 
 We see here again, that a godly man can make a 
 good use of privacy. When he is forced to be alone 
 he can talk with his God and himself; one reason 
 whereof is, that his heart is a treasury and storehouse 
 of divine truths, whence he can speak to himself, by 
 way of check, or encouragement of himself: he hath 
 a spirit over his own spirit, to teach him to make use 
 of that store he hath laid up in his heart, the spirit is 
 never nearer him than when by way of witness to his 
 
40 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 spirit he is thus comforted ; wherein the child of God 
 differs from another man, who cannot endure sohta- 
 riness ; because his heart is empty ; he was a stran- 
 ger to God before, and God is a stranger to him now; 
 so that he cannot go to God as a friend. And for 
 his conscience, that is ready to speak to him, that 
 which he is loath to hear : and therefore he counts 
 himself a torment to himself, especially in privacy. 
 
 We read of great princes, who after some bloody 
 designs were as terrible to themselves,* as they were 
 formerly to others, and therefore could never endure 
 to be awaked in the night, without music, or some 
 like diversion. It may be, we may be cast into such 
 a condition, where we have none in the world to com- 
 fort us, as in contagious sickness, when none may 
 come near us, we may be in such an estate wherein 
 no friend will own us. And therefore let us labour 
 now to be acquainted with God and our own hearts, 
 and acquaint our hearts with the comforts of the Holv 
 Ghost ; then, though we have not so much as a book 
 to look on, or a friend to talk with, yet we may look 
 with comfort into the book of our own heart, and 
 read what God hath written there by the finger of his 
 spirit, all books are written to amend this one book 
 of our heart and conscience : by this means we shall 
 never want a divine to comfort us, a physician to cure 
 us, a counsellor to direct us, a musician to cheer us, 
 a controller to check us, because, by help of the word 
 and spirit, we can be all these to ourselves. 
 
 Another thing we see here, that God hath made 
 
 every man a governor over himself. The poor man, 
 
 that hath none to govern, yet may he be a king in 
 
 himself. It is the natural ambition of man's heart 
 
 * As Charles IX. after the massacre in France. 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 41 
 
 to desire government, as we see in the bramble, Judg. 
 ix ; Well then, let us make use of this disposition to 
 rule ourselves. Absalom had high thoughts; O, if I 
 were a king, I would do so and so ! so our hearts are 
 ready to promise, If I were as such and such a man 
 in such and such a place, I would do this and that. 
 
 But how dost thou manage thine own affections ? 
 how dost thou rule in thine house ? in thyself? do not 
 passions get the upper hand, and keep reason under 
 foot ? When we have learned to rule over our own 
 spirits well, then we may be fit to rule over others. 
 He that is faithful in a little, shall be set over more. 
 Matt. XXV. 21. He that can govern himself, in the 
 wise man's judgment, is better than he that can go- 
 vern a city, Prov. xvi. 32. He that cannot, is like 
 a city without a wall, where those that are in may 
 go out, and the enemies without may come in at their 
 pleasure. So where there is not a government set up, 
 there sin breaks out, and Satan breaks in without 
 control. 
 
 See again, the excellency of the soul, that can 
 reflect upon itself, and judge of whatsoever comes 
 from it : a godly man's care and trouble is especially 
 about his soul, as David here looks principally to that, 
 because all outward troubles are for to help that; 
 when God touches our bodies, our estates, or our 
 friends, he aims at the soul in all. God will never 
 remove his hand, till something be wrought upon the 
 soul, as David's moisture ivas as the drought in sum- 
 mer, Psal. xxxii. so that he roared, and carried him- 
 self unseemly for so great and holy a man, till his heart 
 was subdued to deal without all guile with God in 
 confessing his sin ; and then God forgave him the ini- 
 quity thereof, and healed his body too. In sickness, 
 
42 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 or in any other trouble, it is best the divine should be 
 before the physician : and that men begin where God 
 begins. In great fires men look first to their jewels, 
 and then to their lumber ; so our soul is our best 
 jewel : a carnal worldly man is called, and well called, 
 a fleshly man, because his very soul is flesh, and there 
 is nothing but the world in him. And, therefore, 
 when all is not well within, he cries out, My body is 
 troubled, my state is broken, my friends fail me, &c. 
 but all this while, there is no care for the poor soul 
 to settle a peace in that. 
 
 The possession of the soul is the richest possession, 
 no jewel so precious ; the account for our own souls, 
 and the souls of others, is the greatest account, and 
 therefore the care of souls should be the greatest care : 
 What an indignity is it that we should forget such 
 souls to satisfy our lusts? to have our wills? to be 
 vexed with any ; who by their judgment, example, 
 or authority stop as we suppose our courses ? Is it 
 not the greatest plot of the world ; first to have their 
 lusts satisfied : secondly, to remove either by fraud 
 or violence whatsoever standeth in their way : and 
 thirdly, to put colours and pretences upon this to de- 
 lude the world and themselves, employing all their 
 carnal wit and worldly strength for their carnal aims, 
 and fighting for that which fights against their own 
 souls ? For what will be the issue of this but certain 
 destruction ? 
 
 Of this mind are not only the dregs of people, but 
 many of the more refined sort, who desire to be emi- 
 nent in the world ; and to have their own desires 
 herein, give up the liberty of their own judgments 
 and consciences, to the desires and lusts of others ; 
 to be above others they will be beneath themselveSy 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. |& 
 
 having those men's persons in admiration for hope of 
 advantage, whom otherwise they despise, and so sub- 
 stituting in their spirits, man in the place of God, 
 lose heaven for earth, and bury that divine spark, 
 their souls, capable of the divine nature, and fitter to 
 be a sanctuary and temple for God to dwell in, than 
 by closing with baser things to become base itself. 
 We need not wonder that others seem base to car- 
 nal men, who are base both in and to themselves. It 
 is no wonder they should be cruel to the souls of 
 others, who are cruel to their own souls ; that they 
 should neglect and starve others, that give away their 
 own souls in a manner for nothing. Alas ! upon 
 what poor terms do they hazard that, the nature and 
 worth whereof is beyond man's reach to comprehend ! 
 Many are so careless in this kind, that if they were 
 thoroughly persuaded that they had souls that should 
 live for ever, either in bliss or torment, we might the 
 more easily work upon them. But as they live by 
 sense, as beasts, so they have no more thoughts of 
 future times than beasts, except at such times as con- 
 science is awaked by some sudden judgment, whereby 
 God's wrath is revealed from Heaven against them. 
 But happy were it for them, if they might dife like 
 beasts, whose misery dies with them. 
 
 To such an estate hath sin brought the soul, that 
 it willingly drowneth itself in the senses, and becomes 
 in some sort incarnate with the flesh. 
 
 We should therefore set ourselves to have most 
 care of that, which God cares most for : which he 
 breathed into us at first, set his own image upon, gave 
 so great a price for, and values above all the world 
 besides. Shall all our study be to satisfy the desires 
 of the flesh, and neglect this ? 
 
44 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 Is it not a vanity to prefer the casket before the 
 jewel, the shell before the pearl, the gilded potsherd 
 before the treasure ? and is it not much more vanity, 
 to prefer the outward condition before the inward ? 
 The soul is that which Satan and his hath most spite 
 at, for in troubling our bodies or estates, he aims 
 at the vexation of our souls. As in Job i. his aim 
 was to abuse that power God had given him over his 
 children, body, and goods, to make him out of a dis- 
 quieted spirit blaspheme God. It is an ill method to 
 begin our care in other things, and neglect the soul, 
 as Achitophel, who set his house in order, when he 
 should have set his soul in order first, 2 Sam, xvii. 23. 
 Wisdom begins at the right end. If all be well at home, 
 it comforts a man, though he meets with troubles 
 abroad. Oh, saith he, I shall have rest at home, I 
 have a loving wife and dutiful children ; so whatso- 
 ever we meet withal abroad, if the soul be quiet, thi- 
 ther we can retire with comfort. See that all be well 
 within, and then all troubles from without cannot 
 much annoy us. 
 
 ' Grace will teach us to reason thus, God hath given 
 mine enemies power over my liberty and condition, 
 but shall they have power and liberty over my spirit ? 
 It is that which Satan and they most seek for : but 
 never yield, O my soul ! and thus a godly man will 
 become more than a conqueror ; when in appearance 
 he is conquered^ the cause prevails, his spirit prevails, 
 and is undaunted. A Christian is not subdued till 
 his spirit be subdued. Thus Job prevailed over Sa- 
 tan and all his troubles at length. This tormenteth 
 proud persons to see godly men enjoy a calm and re- 
 solute frame of mind in the midst of troubles ; when 
 their enemies are more troubled in troubling them, 
 than they are in being troubled by them. 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 45 
 
 We see likewise here, how to frame our complaints: 
 David complains not of God, nor of his troubles, nor 
 of others, but of his own soul : He complains of him- 
 self to himself ; as if he should say, Though all things 
 else be out of order, yet, my Soul, thou shouldst 
 not trouble me too : thou shouldst not betray thyself 
 unto troubles, but rule over them, A godly man 
 complains to God, but not of God, but of himself; 
 a carnal man is ready to justify himself and complain 
 of God, he complains not to God, but of God, 
 at the least, in secret murmuring, he complains of 
 others that are but God's vials; he complains of 
 the grievance that lies upon him, but never regards 
 what is amiss in himself within : Openly he cries 
 out upon fortune, yet secretly he striketh at God, 
 under that idol of fortune, by whose guidance all 
 things come to pass ; whilst he quarrels with that 
 which is nothing, he wounds him that is the cause of 
 all things ; like a gouty man that complains of his 
 shoe, and of his bed ; or an aguish man of his drink, 
 when the cause is from within. So men are dis- 
 quieted with others, when they should rather be dis- 
 quieted and angry with their own hearts. 
 
 We condemn Jonas for contending with God, and 
 justifying his unjust anger, but yet the same risings 
 are in men naturally, if shame would suffer them to 
 give vent to their secret discontent; their heart speaks 
 what Jonas' tongue spake. Oh, but here we should 
 lay our hand upon our mouth, and adore God, and 
 command silence to our souls. 
 
 No man is hurt but by himself first ; We are drawn 
 to evil, and allured from a true good to a false by 
 our own lusts, God tempts no man, Jam. i. 13. Sa- 
 tan hath no power over us further than we wiUingly 
 
46 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 lie open to him ; Satan works upon our affections, 
 and then our affections work upon our will. He doth 
 not work immediately upon the will ; we may thank 
 ourselves in willingly yielding to our own passions, 
 for all that ill Satan or his instruments draws us unto ; 
 Saul was not vexed with an evil spirit, 1 Sam. xvi. 
 till he gave way to his own evil spirit of envy first. 
 The devil entered not into Judas, Matt, xxvii. 3, 
 until his coveteous heart made way for him. The 
 apostle strengtheneth his conceit against rash and 
 lasting anger from hence, that by this we give way 
 to the devil, Eph. iv. It is a dangerous thing to pass 
 from God's government, and come under Satan's. 
 
 Satan mingleth himself with our own passions, 
 therefore we should blame ourselves first, be ashamed 
 of ourselves most, and judge ourselves most severely. 
 But self-love teacheth us the contrary method, to 
 translate all upon others ; it robs us of a right judg- 
 ment of ourselves. Though we desire to know all 
 diseases of the body by their proper names, yet we 
 will conceive of sinful passions of the soul under 
 milder terms ; as lust under love, rage under just 
 anger, murmuring under just displeasure, &c, thus 
 whilst we flatter our grief, what hope of cure ! Thus 
 sin hath not only made all the creatures enemies to 
 us, but ourselves the greatest enemies to ourselves, 
 and therefore we should begin our complaints against 
 ourselves, and discuss ourselves thoroughly ; how 
 else shall we judge truly of other things without us, 
 above us, or beneath us ? The sun when it rises en- 
 lightens first the nearest places, and then the more 
 remote ; so where true light is set up, it discovers 
 what is amiss within first. 
 
 Hence also we see, that as in all discouragements 
 a godly man hath most trouble with his own heart, 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 47 
 
 SO he knows how to carry himself therein, as David 
 doth here. 
 
 For the better clearing of this, we must know there 
 be divers kinds and degrees of conflicts in the soul 
 of man, whilst it is united to the body. 
 
 First, between one corrupt passion and another, as 
 between covetousness and pride ; pride calls for ex- 
 pense, covetousness for restraint; oft passions fight 
 not only against God and reason, to which they owe 
 a homage, but one against another ; sin fights against 
 sin, and a lesser sin is oftentimes overcome by a greater. 
 The soul in this case is like the sea tossed with con- 
 trary winds ; and like a kingdom divided, wherein 
 the subjects fight both against their prince, and one 
 against another. 
 
 Secondly, There is a natural conflict in the affec- 
 tions, whereby nature seeks to preserve itself, as be- 
 twixt anger and fear; anger calls for revenge, fear 
 of the law binds the soul to be quiet. We see in the 
 creatures, fear makes them abstain from that which 
 their appetites carry them unto. A wolf comes to a 
 flock with an eagerness to prey upon it, but seeing 
 the shepherd standing in defence of his sheep, returns 
 and doth no harm ; and yet for all this, as he came a 
 wolf, so he returns a wolf. 
 
 A natural man may oppose some sin from an ob- 
 stinate resolution against it, not from any love of God, 
 or hatred of sin, as sin, but because he conceives it 
 a brave thing to have his will. As one hard weapon 
 may strike at another, as a stone wall may beat back 
 an arrow ; but this opposition is not from a contra- 
 riety of nature, as is betwixt fire and water. 
 
 Thirdly, There is a conflict of a higher nature, as 
 between some sins and the light of reason helped by 
 a natural conscience. The heathen could reason from 
 
48 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 the dignity of the soul, to count it a base thing to 
 prostitute themselves to beastly lusts, so as it were 
 degrading and unmanning themselves. Natural men 
 desirous to maintain a great opinion of themselves, 
 and to awe the inferior sort by gravity of deportment 
 in carriage, will abstain from that, which otherwise 
 their hearts carry them unto, lest yielding should ren- 
 der them despised, by laying themselves too much 
 open ; as because passion discovers a fool as he is, 
 and makes a wise man thought meaner than he is ; 
 therefore a prudent man will conceal his passion. Rea- 
 son refined and raised by education, example, and 
 custom, doth break in some degree the force of natural 
 corruption, and brings into the soul, as it were, ano- 
 ther nature, and yet no true change ; as we see in 
 such as have been inured to good courses, they feel 
 conscience checking them upon the first discontinu- 
 ance and alteration of their former good ways, but this 
 is usually from a former impression of their breeding, 
 as the boat moves some little time upon the water by 
 virtue of the former stroke, yet at length we see corrup- 
 tion prevailing over education, as in Joas, who was 
 awed by the reverent respect he bare to his uncle Je- 
 hoiada, he was good all his uncle's days, 2 Kings, xii. 2. 
 And in Nero, in whom the goodness of his education 
 prevailed over the fierceness of his nature, for the first 
 five years. 
 
 Fourthly, but in the Church, where there shineth 
 a light above nature, as there is a discovery of more 
 sins, and some strength, with the light, to perform 
 more duty ; so there is a further conflict than in a man 
 that hath no better than nature in him. By a dis- 
 covery of the excellent things of the Gospel, there 
 may be some kind of joy stirred up, and some degree 
 of obedience : whence there may be some degree of 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 49 
 
 resistance against the sins of the Gospel, as obstinate 
 unbehef, desperation, profaneness, &:c. A man in 
 the Church may do more than another out of the 
 Church, by reason of the enlargement of his know- 
 ledge ; whereupon such cannot sin at so easy a rate 
 as others that know less, and, therefore, meet with less 
 opposition from conscience. 
 
 Fifthly, there is yet a further degree of conflict 
 betwixt the sanctified powers of the soul, and the 
 flesh, not only as it is seated in the baser parts, but 
 even in the best faculties of the soul, and as it mingles 
 itself with every gracious performance: as in David, 
 there is not only a conflict betwixt sin and conscience, 
 enlightened by a common work of the spirit ; but be- 
 tween the commanding powers of the soul sanctified^ 
 and itself unsanctified^ between reasons of the flesh 
 and reasons of the spirit, between yaz7/i and distrust^ 
 between the true light of knowledge, and false hght. 
 For it is no question but the flesh would play its part 
 in David, and muster up all the strength of reason it 
 had. And usually y?e5 A, as it is more ancient than 
 the spirit, we being first natural, then spiritual, so it 
 will put itself first forward in devising shifts, as Esau 
 comes out of the womb first before Jacob ; yet hereby 
 the spirit is stirred up to a present examination and 
 resistance, and in resisting, as we see here, at length 
 the godly gets the victory. As in the conflict between 
 the higher parts of the soul with the lower, it clearly 
 appears, that the soul doth not rise out of the temper 
 of the body, but is a more noble substance, command- 
 ing the body by reasons fetched from its own worth ; 
 so in this spiritual conflict, it appears there is some- 
 thing better than the soul itself, that hath superiority 
 over it. 
 
 £ 
 
50 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 Difference between good Men and others in 
 Conjiicts with Sin, 
 
 BUT how doth it appear that this combat in David 
 was a spiritual combat ? 
 
 First, a natural conscience is troubled for sins against 
 the hght of nature only, but David for inward and 
 secret corruptions, as discouragement and disquietness 
 arising from faint trusting in God. 
 
 David's conflict was not only with the sensual lower 
 part of his soul, which is carried to ease and quiet, 
 and love of present things, but he was troubled with 
 a mutiny in his understanding, between faith and 
 distrust ; and therefore he was forced to rouse up his 
 soul so oft to trust in God, which shows that carnal 
 reason did solicit him to discontent, and had many 
 colourable reasons for it. 
 
 Secondly, a man endued with common grace, is 
 rather a patient than an agent in conflicts ; the light 
 troubles him against his will, as discovering and re- 
 proving him, and hindering his sinful contentments, 
 his heart is more biased another way if the light 
 would let him ; but a godly man labours to help the 
 light, and to work his heart to an opposition against 
 sin ; he is an agent as well as a patient. As David 
 here doth not suffer disquieting, but is disquieted with 
 himself for being so. A godly man is an agent in 
 opposing his corruption, and a patient in enduring 
 of it ! whereas a natural man is a secret agent in and 
 for his corruptions, and a patient in regard of any 
 help against them ; a good man suffers evil and doth 
 good, a natural man suffers good and doth evil. 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 51 
 
 Thirdly, A conscience guided by common light, 
 withstands distempers most by outward means, but 
 David here fetcheth help from the Spirit of God in 
 him, and from trust in God. Nature works from 
 within, so doth the new nature ; David is not only 
 something disquieted, and something troubled for 
 being disquieted, but sets himself thoroughly against 
 his distempers ; he complains, and expostulates, he 
 censures, and chargeth his soul. The other, if he doth 
 any thing at all, yet it is faintly ; he seeks out his 
 corruption as a coward doth his enemy, loath to find 
 him, and more loath to encounter with him. 
 
 Fourthly, David withstands sin constantly, and 
 gets ground. We see here, he gives not over at the 
 first, but presseth again and again. Nature works 
 constantly, so doth the new nature. The conflict in 
 the other is something forced, as taking part with 
 the worser side in himself; good things have a weak, 
 or rather no party in him, bad things a strong; and 
 therefore he soon gives over in this holy quarrel. 
 
 Fifthly, David is not discouraged by his foils, but 
 sets himself afresh against his corruptions, with con- 
 fidence to bring them under. Whereas he that hath 
 but a common work of the Spirit, after some foils, 
 lets his enemy prevail more and more, and so despairs 
 of victory, and thinks it better to sit still, than to rise 
 and take a new fall ; by which means his latter end 
 is worse than his beginning ; for beginning in the 
 spirit, he ends in the flesh. A godly man, although 
 upon some foil, he may for a time be discouraged, 
 yet by holy indignation against sin, he renews his 
 force, and sets afresh upon his corruptions, and ga- 
 thers more strength by his falls, and groweth into more 
 acquaintance with his own heart, and Satan's malice. 
 
52 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 and God's strange ways in bringing light out of dark- 
 ness. 
 
 Sixthly, An ordinary Christian may be disquieted 
 for being disquieted, as David was, but then it is only 
 as disquiet hath vexation in it; but David here striveth 
 against the unquietness of his spirit, not only as it 
 brought vexation with it, but as it hindered commu- 
 nion with his God. 
 
 In sin there is not only a guilt binding over the 
 soul to God's judgment, and thereupon filling the 
 soul with inward fears and terrors ; but in sin like- 
 wise there is, 1. a contrariety to God's holy nature; 
 and 2. a contrariety to the divine nature and image 
 stamped upon ourselves; 3. a weakening and dis- 
 abling of the soul from good ; and 4. a hindering of our 
 former communion with God, sin being in its nature 
 a leaving of God the fountain of all strength and com- 
 fort, and cleaving to the creature ; hereupon the soul 
 having tasted the sweetness of God before, is now 
 grieved, and this grief is not only for the guilt and 
 trouble that sin draws after it, but from an inward 
 antipathy and contrariety betwixt the sanctified soul 
 ^nd sin. It hates sin as sin, as the only bane and 
 poison of renewed nature, and the only thing that 
 breeds strangeness betwixt God and the soul. And 
 this hatred is not so much from discourse and strength 
 of reason, as from nature itself rising presently against 
 its enemy ; the lamb presently shuns the wolf from 
 a contrariety; antipathies wait not for any strong 
 reason, but are exercised upon the first presence of a 
 contrary object. 
 
 Seventhly, hereupon ariseth the last difference ; 
 that because the soul hateth sin as sin, therefore it 
 opposeth it universally and eternally, in all the powers 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 53 
 
 of the soul, and in all actions inward and outward 
 issuing from those powers; D avid regarded no iniguiti/ 
 in his hearty but hated every evil way, Psalm Ixvi. 
 18, the desires of his soul were, that it wight be so 
 directed that he might keep God's law, Psalm cxix. 
 5. And if there had been no binding law, yet there 
 was such a sweet sympathy and agreement betwixt 
 his soul and God's truth, that he delighted in it 
 above all natural sivcetness ; hence it is that Saint 
 John saith, He that is born of God cannot sin, 
 1 John iii. 9, that is, so far forth as he is born of 
 God; his new nature will not suffer him, he cannot 
 lie, he cannot deceive, he cannot be earthly minded, 
 he cannot but love and delight in the persons and 
 things that are good. There is not only a light in 
 the understanding, but a new life in the will, and all 
 other faculties of a godly man ; what good his know- 
 ledge disco vereth, that his will makes choice of, and 
 his heart loveth ; what ill his understanding dis- 
 covers, that his will hateth and abstains from. But 
 in a man not thoroughly converted, the will and af- 
 fections are bent otherwise, he loves not the good he 
 doth, nor hates the evil he doth not. 
 
 Therefore let us make a narrow search into our 
 souls upon what grounds we oppose sin, and fight 
 God's battles. A common Christian is not cast down, 
 because he is disquieted in God's service, or for his 
 inward failings, that he cannot serve God with that 
 hberty and freedom he desires, &c. But a godly 
 man is troubled for his distempers, because they hin- 
 der the comfortable intercourse betwixt God and his 
 soul, and that spiritual composedness, and sabbath 
 of spirit which he enjoyed before, and desires to en- 
 joy again. He is troubled that the waters of his soul 
 
54 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 are troubled so, that the image of Christ shines not 
 in him as it did before. It grieves him to find an 
 abatement in affection , in love to God, a distraction 
 or coldness in performing duties, any doubting of 
 God's favour, any discouragement from duty, &c. 
 A godly man's comforts and grievances are hid from 
 the world ; natural men are strangers to them. Let 
 this be a rule of discerning our estates, how we stand 
 affected to the distempers of our hearts ; if we find 
 them troublesome, it is a ground of comfort unto us 
 that our spirits are ruled by a higher Spirit; and 
 that there is a principle of that life in us, which can- 
 not brook the most secret corruption, but rather casts 
 it out by a holy complaint, as strength of nature doth 
 poison, which seeks its destruction. And let us be 
 in love with that work of grace in us, which makes 
 us out of love with the least stirring that hinders our 
 best condition. 
 
 See again. We may be sinfully disquieted for that 
 which is not a sin to be disquieted for, David had 
 sinned if he had not been somewhat troubled for the 
 banishment from God's house, and the blasphemy of 
 the enemies of the Church ; but yet, we see, he stops 
 himself, and sharply takes up his soul for being dis- 
 quieted : he did well in being disquieted, and in check- 
 ing himself for the same ; there were good ground's 
 for both : he had wanted spiritual hfe if he had not 
 been disquieted : he abated the vigour and liveliness 
 of his life, by being overmuch disquieted. 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. S$ 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 Of unfitting Dejection : andvjhenit is excessive. And 
 what is the right Temper of the Soul herein, 
 
 § I. rjlHEN, how shall 7ve know when a man is 
 -^ cast down and disquieted, otherwise than 
 is befitting ? 
 
 There is a threefold miscarriage of inward trouble. 
 
 1. When the soul is troubled for that it should 
 not be vexed for, as Ahab, when he was crossed in 
 his will for Naboth's vineyard. 
 
 2. In the ground, as when we grieve for that which 
 is good, and for that which we should grieve for ; but 
 it is with too much reflecting upon our own particular. 
 
 As in the troubles of the state or Church, we ought 
 to be affected ; but not because these troubles hinder 
 any liberties of the flesh, and restrain pride of hfe, 
 but from higher respects ; as that by these troubles 
 God is dishonoured, the public exercises of rehgion 
 hindered, and the gathering of souls thereby stopped ; 
 as the states and commonwealth, which should be 
 harbours of the Church, are disturbed; as lawless 
 courses and persons prevail ; as rehgion and justice 
 is triumphed over, and trodden under. Men usually 
 are grieved for pubhc miseries from a spirit of self-love 
 only, because their own private is embarked in the 
 public. There is a depth of deceit of the heart in this 
 matter. 
 
 3. So for the measure, when we trouble ourselves 
 (though not without cause) yet without bounds. 
 
 The spirit of man is hke unto moist elements, as 
 air and water, which have no bounds of their own to 
 contain them in, but those of the vessel that keeps 
 
56 THE SOUL^S CONFLICT. 
 
 them : water is spilt and lost without something to 
 hold it; so it is with the spirit of man, unless it be 
 bounded with the Spirit of God. Put the case, a man 
 be disquieted for sin, for which not to be disquieted 
 is a sin, yet we may look too much, and too long 
 upon it, for the soul hath a double eye, one to look 
 to sin, another to look up to God's mercy in Christ. 
 Having two objects to look on, we may sin in looking 
 too much on the one, with neglect of the other. 
 
 § II. Seeing then, disquieting and dejection for sin 
 is necessary, how shall we know when it exceeds mea- 
 sure? 
 
 First, when it hinders us from holy duties, or in 
 the pe7]forma7ice of them, by distraction or otherwise ; 
 whereas they are given to carry us to that which is 
 pleasing to God, and good to ourselves. 
 
 Grief is ill when it taketh off the soul from minding 
 that it should, and so indisposeth us to the duties of 
 our callings. Christ upon the cross was grieved to 
 the utmost, yet it did not take away his care for his 
 mother : so the good thief, Luke xxiii. 42, in the 
 midst of his pangs laboured to gain his fellow, and to 
 save his own soul, and to glorify Christ. If this be 
 so in grief of body, which taketh away the free use of 
 reason, and exercise of grace more than any other 
 grief, then much more in grief from more remote causes; 
 for in extremity of body the sickness may be such, as 
 all that we can perform to God is a quiet submission, 
 and a desire to be carried unto Christ by the prayers 
 of others ; we should so mind our grief as not to for- 
 get God's mercy, or our own duty. 
 
 Secondly, when we forget the grounds of comfort, 
 and suffer our mind to run only upon the present 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 57 
 
 grievance, it is a sin to dwell on sin, and turmoil our 
 thoughts about it, when we are called to thankfulness. 
 A physician in good discretion forbids a dish at some 
 times to prevent the nourishment of some disease, 
 which another time he gives way unto. So we may and 
 ought to abstain from too much feeding our thoughts 
 upon our corruptions in case of discouragement, which 
 at other times is very necessary. It should be our 
 wisdom in such cases to change the object, and labour 
 to take off our minds, and give them to that which 
 calls more for them. Grief oft presseth unseasonably 
 upon us, when there is cause of joy, and when we 
 are called to joy ; as Joab justly found fault with Da- 
 vid for grieving too much, when God had given him 
 the victory, and rid him and the state of a traitorous 
 son. God hath made some days for joy, and joy is 
 the proper work of those days. This is the day which 
 the Lord hath made, Psalm cxviii. 24. Some in a 
 sick distemper desire that which increaseth their sick- 
 ness; so some that are deeply cast down, desire 
 a wakening ministry, and whatever may cast them 
 down more ; whereas they should meditate upon com- 
 forts, and get some sweet assurance of God's love. 
 Joy is the constant temper which the soul should be 
 in. Rejoice evermore, 1 Thes. v. 16, saith the Apostle. 
 If a sink be stirred, we stir it not more, but go into a 
 sweeter room. So we should think of that which is 
 comfortable, and of such truths as may raise up the 
 soul, and sweeten the spirit. 
 
 Thirdly, Grief is too much, when it inchnes the soul 
 to any inconvenient courses : for if it be not looked 
 to, it is an ill counsellor, when either it hurts the health 
 of our bodies, or draws the soul, for to ease itself, to 
 some unlawful liberty. When grief keeps such a noise 
 
58 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 in the soul, that it will not hear what the messengers 
 of God, or the still voice of the Spirit saith ; as in 
 combustions, loud cries are scarce heard : so in such 
 cases the soul will neither hear itself nor others. The 
 fruit of this overmuch trouble of spirit is increase of 
 trouble. 
 
 § III. Another question may be. What that sweet 
 and holy temper is the soul should be in, that it 
 may neither be faulty in the defect, nor too much 
 abound in grief and sorrow ? 
 
 1. The soul must be raised to a right grief. 
 
 2. The grief that is raised, though it be right, yet 
 it must be bounded. Before we speak of raising 
 grief in the godly, we must know there are some who 
 are altogether strangers to any kind of spiritual grief 
 or trouble at all ; such must consider, that the way to 
 prevent everlasting trouble, is to desire to be troubled 
 with a preventing trouble. Let those that are not in 
 the way of grace think with themselves what cause 
 they have not to take a minute's rest while they are in 
 that estate. For a man to be in debt both body and 
 soul, subject every minute to be arrested and carried 
 prisoner to hell, and not to be moved : for a man to 
 have the wrath of God ready to be poured out upon 
 him, and hell gape for him, nay, to carry a hell about 
 him in conscience, if it were awake, and to have all 
 his comfort here hanging upon a weak thread of this 
 life ready to be cut and broken off every moment, 
 and to be cursed in all those blessings that he enjoys ; 
 and yet not to be disquieted, but continually trea- 
 suring up wrath against the day of wrath, by running 
 deeper into God's books : for a man to be thus, and 
 not to be disquieted, is but the devil's peace, whilst 
 
THE soul's conflict. 6^ 
 
 the strong man holds possession. A burning ague 
 is more hopeful than a lethargy : The best service 
 that can be done to such men, is to startle and rouse 
 them, and so with violence to pull them out of the fire, 
 as Jude speaks, chap, xxiii. or else they will another 
 day curse that cruel mercy that lets them alone now. 
 In all their jollity in this world, they are but as a book 
 fairly bound, which when it is opened is full of nothing 
 but tragedies. So when the book of their consciences 
 shall be once opened, there is nothing to be read but 
 lamentations and woes. Such men were in a way of 
 hope, if they had but so much apprehension of their 
 estates, as to ask themselves. What have I done? If 
 this be true that there are such fearful things prepared 
 for sinners, why am I not cast down ? Why am I no 
 more troubled and discouraged for my wicked courses? 
 Despair to such is the beginning of comfort ; and 
 trouble the beginning of peace. A storm is the way 
 to a calm, and hell the way to heaven. 
 
 But for raising of a right grief in the soul of a holy 
 man, look what is the state of the soul in itself in 
 what terms it is with God : whether there be any sin 
 hanging on the file unrepented of. If all be not well 
 within us, then here is place for inward trouble, where- 
 by the soul may afflict itself. 
 
 God saw this grief so needful for his people, that he 
 appointed certain days for afflicting them. Lev. xvi. 
 29 ; because it is fit that sin contracted by joy should 
 be dissolved by grief; and sin is so deeply invested 
 into the soul, that a separation betwixt the soul and 
 it cannot be wrought without much grief; when the 
 soul hath smarted for sin, it sets then the right price 
 upon reconciliation with God in Christ, and it feeleth 
 what a bitter thing sin is, and therefore it will be afraid 
 
66 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 to be too bold with it afterward ; it likewise awTth 
 the heart so, that it will not be so loose towards God as 
 it was before ; and certainly that soul that hath felt 
 the sweetness of keeping peace with God, cannot but 
 take deeply to heart, that there should be any thing 
 in us that should divide betwixt us and the fountain 
 of our comfort, that should stop the passage of our 
 prayers and the current of God's favours both towards 
 ourselves and others, it is such an ill as is the cause 
 of all other ill, and damps all our comforts. 
 
 2. We should look out of ourselves also, consider- 
 ing whether for troubles at home and abroad, God 
 calls not to mourning or troubling of ourselves ; grief 
 of compassion is as well required as grief of contrition. 
 
 It is a dead member that is not sensible of the state 
 of the body. Jeremy, for fear he should not weep 
 enough for the distressed estate of the Church, desired 
 of God, that his eyes might be made a fountain of 
 tears y Jer. ix. 1. A Christian, as he must not be 
 proud flesh, so neither must he be dead flesh ; none 
 more truly sensible either of sin or of misery, so far 
 as misery carries with it any sign of God's displeasure, 
 than a true Christian : which issues from the life of 
 grace, which, where it is in any measure, is lively, 
 and therefore sensible : for God gives motion and 
 senses for the preservation of life. As God's bowels 
 are tender towards us, so God's people have tender 
 bowels towards him, his cause, his people, and his 
 Church, The fruit of this sensibleness, is earnest 
 prayer to God. As Melancthon said well, If I cared 
 for nothing, I would pray for nothing, 
 
 2. Grief being thus raised, must, as we said before, 
 be bounded and guided. 
 
 1, God hath framed the soul, and planted such 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 61 
 
 affections in it, as may answer all his dealing towards 
 his children ; that when he enlargeth himself towards 
 them, then the soul should enlarge itself to him again ; 
 when he opens his hand, we ought to open our hearts ; 
 when he shews any token of displeasure, we should 
 grieve ; when he troubles us, we should trouble and 
 grieve ourselves. As God any way disco vereth him- 
 self, so the soul should be in a suitable pliableness. 
 Then the soul is as it should be, when it is ready to 
 meet God at every turn, to joy when he calls for it, 
 to mourn when he calls for that, to labour to know 
 God's meaning in every thing. 
 
 Again, God hath made the soul for a communion 
 with himself, which communion is especially placed 
 in the affections, which are the springs of all spiritual 
 worship. Then the affections are well ordered, when 
 we are fit to have communion with God, to love, joy, 
 trust, to delight in him above all things. The affec- 
 tions are the inward movings of the soul which then 
 move best when they move us to God, not from him. 
 They are the feet of the soul, whereby we walk wuth, 
 and before God. When we have our affections at 
 such command, that we can take them off from any 
 thing in the world, at such times as we are to have 
 more near communion with God in heaven or prayer, 
 &c. Gen. xxii. 5. As Abraham when he was to sacri- 
 fice, left whatsoever might hinder him at the bottom 
 of the Mount. When we let our affections so far into 
 the things of the world, as we cannot take them off 
 when we are to deal with God ; it is a sign of spiritual in- 
 temperancy. It is said of the Israelites that they brought 
 jEgypt with them into the wilderness ; so many bring 
 the world into their hearts with them, when they come 
 before God. 
 
62 THE SOUL^S CONFLICT. 
 
 But because our affections are never well ordered 
 without judgment, as being to follow, not to lead ; 
 it is an evidence that the soul is in a fit temper, when 
 there is such a harmony in it, as that we judge of 
 things as they are, and affect as we judge, and ex- 
 ecute as we affect. This harmony within breeds uni- 
 formity and constancy in our resolutions, so that 
 there is, as it were, an even thread drawn through 
 the whole course and tenor of our lives, when we are 
 not off and on, up and down. It argues an ill state 
 of body when it is very hot, or very cold, or hot in 
 one part, and cold in another ; so unevenness of spirit 
 argues a distemper ; a wise man's Hfe is of one colour 
 like itself. The soul bred from heaven, so far as it is 
 heavenly minded, desires to be, hke heaven, above 
 all storms, uniform, constant; not as things under 
 the sun, which are always in changes, constant only 
 in inconstancy. Affections are as it were the wind 
 of the soul, and then the soul is carried as it should 
 be, when it is neither so becalmed that it moves not 
 when it should, nor yet tossed with tempests to move 
 disorderly. When it is so well balanced that it is 
 neither lift up, nor cast down too much, but keepeth 
 a steady course. Our affections must not rise to be- 
 come unruly passions, for then as a river that over- 
 floweth the banks, they carry much slime and soil 
 with them. Though affections be the wind of the 
 soul, yet unruly passions are the storms of the soul, 
 and will overturn all, if they be not suppressed. The 
 best, as we see in David here, if they do not steer 
 their hearts aright, are in danger of sudden gusts. 
 A Christian must neither be a dead sea, nor a raging 
 sea. 
 
 Our affections are then in best temper, when they 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 63 
 
 become so many graces of the Spirit ; as when love 
 is turned to a love of God ; joy, to a delight in the 
 best things ; fear, to a fear of offending him more than 
 any creature ; sorrow, to a sorrow for sin, &c. 
 
 They are likewise in good temper, when they move 
 us to all duties of love and mercy towards others ; 
 when they are not shut where they should be open, 
 nor open where they should be shut. 
 
 Yet there is one case wherein exceeding affection 
 is not over exceeding ; as in an ecstasy of zeal upon 
 a sudden apprehension of God's dishonour, and his 
 cause trodden under foot. It is better in this case, 
 rather scarce to be own men, than to be calm or quiet. 
 It is said of Christ and David, that their hearts were 
 eaten up with a holy zeal for God's house. In such 
 a case Moses, unparalleled for meekness, was turned 
 into a holy rage. The greatness of the provocation, 
 the excellency of the object, and the weight of the 
 occasion, bears out the soul, not only without blame, 
 but with great praise, in such seeming distempers. 
 It is the glory of a Christian to be carried with full 
 sail, and as it were with a spring- tide of affection. 
 So long as the stream of affection runneth in the due 
 channel, and if there be great occasions for great mo- 
 tions, then it is fit the affections should rise higher, 
 as to burn with zeal, to be sick of love, Cant. ii. 5. 
 to be more vile for the Lord, as David ; to be counted 
 out of our wits with Saint Paul, to further the cause 
 of Christ and the good of souls. 
 
 Thus we may see the life of a poor Christian in 
 this world. 1. He is in great danger, if he be not 
 troubled at all. 2. When he is troubled, he is in dan- 
 ger to be over-troubled. 3. When he hath brought 
 his soul in tune again, he is subject to new troubles. 
 
64 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 Betwixt this ebbing and flowing there is very httle 
 quiet. Now because this cannot be done without a 
 great measure of God's Spirit, our help is to make use 
 of that promise of giving the holy Ghost to them that 
 ask it, John xi. 13. To teach us when, how long, 
 and how much to grieve : and when, and how long, 
 and how much to rejoice ; the Spirit must teach the 
 heart this, who as he moved upon the waters before 
 the creation, so he must move upon the waters of our 
 souls, for we have not the command of our own hearts. 
 Every natural man is carried away with his flesh and 
 humours, upon which the devil rides, and carries 
 him whither he list; he hath no better counsellors 
 than flesh and blood, and Satan counselling with 
 them. But a godly man is not a slave to his carnal 
 affections, but (as David here) labours to bring into 
 captivity the first motions of sin in his heart. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Of the Soul's Disquiets, God's Dealings, and 
 Power to contain ourselves in order, 
 
 MOREOVER we see, that ^^e soUl hath disquiets 
 proper to itself, besides those griefs of sympathy 
 that arise from the body ; for here the soul com- 
 plains of the soul itself, as when it is out of the body 
 it hath torments and joys of its own. And if these 
 troubles of the soul be not well cured, then by way 
 of fellowship and redundance they will aflect the out- 
 ward man, and so the whole man shall be en wrapt in 
 misery. 
 
 From whence we further see, that God, when he 
 tvill humble a man, need not fetch forces from with- 
 out, if he let but our own hearts loose, we shall have 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 65 
 
 trouble and work enough, though, we were as holy 
 as David, God did not only exercise him with a re- 
 beUious son out of his own loins, but with rebellious 
 risings out of his own heart. If there were no enemy 
 in the world, nor devil in hell, we carry that within 
 us, that, if it be let loose, will trouble us more than 
 all the world besides. Oh that the proud creature 
 should exalt himself against God, and run into a vo- 
 luntary course of provoking him, who cannot only 
 raise the humours of our bodies against us, but the 
 passions of our minds also to torment us ! There- 
 fore it is the best wisdom not to provoke the great 
 God, for are we stronger than he, 1 Cor. x. 22, that 
 can raise ourselves against ourselves ? and work won- 
 ders not only in the great world, but also in the little 
 world, our souls and bodies, when he pleases ? 
 
 We see likewise hence a necessity of having some- 
 thing in the soul above itself, it must be partaker of 
 a diviner nature than itself ; otherwise, when the 
 most refined part of our souls, the very spirit of our 
 minds is out of frame, what shall bring it in again ? 
 Therefore we must conceive in a godly man, a double 
 self, one which must be denied, the other which must 
 deny ; one that breeds all the disquiet, and another 
 that stilleth what the other hath raised. The way to 
 still the soul, as it is under our corrupt self, is not to 
 parley with it, and divide government for peace sake, 
 as if we should gratify the flesh in some things, to re- 
 deem liberty to the spirit in other things ; for we shall 
 find the flesh will be too encroaching. We must 
 strive against it, not with subtlety and discourse so 
 much, as with peremptory violence silence it and vex 
 it ; an enemy that parleys will yield at length. Grace 
 is nothing else but that blessed power, whereby as 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 spiritual we gain upon ourselves as carnal. Holy love 
 is that which we gain of self-love ; and so joy, and 
 delight, &c. Grace labours to win ground of the old 
 man, until at length it be all in all; indeed we are never 
 ourselves perfectly, till we have wholly put off our- 
 selves ; nothing should be at a greater distance to us, 
 than ourselves. This is the reason why carnal men 
 that have nothing above themselves but their corrupt 
 self, sink in great troubles, having nothing within to 
 uphold them, whereas a good man is wiser than himself, 
 holier than himself, stronger than himself, there is 
 something in him more than a man. There be evils 
 that the spirit of man alone out of the goodness of na- 
 ture cannot bear, but the spirit of man assisted with a 
 higher spirit, will support and carry him through. It is 
 a good trial of a man's condition to know what he es- 
 teems to be himself. A godly man counts the inner 
 man, the sanctified part, to be himself, whereby he 
 stands in relation to Christ and a better life. Another 
 man esteems his contentment in the world, the satis- 
 faction of his carnal desires, the respect he finds from 
 men by reason of his parts, or something without him, 
 that he is master of, this he counts himself, and by 
 this he values himself, and to this he makes his best 
 thoughts and endeavours serviceable ; and of crosses 
 in these things he is most sensible, and so sensible, 
 that he thinks himself undone if he seeth not a present 
 issue out of them. 
 
 That which most troubles a good man in all troubles 
 is himself, so far as he is unsubdued ; he is more dis- 
 quieted with himself, than with all troubles out of 
 himself; when he hath gotten the better once of him- 
 self, whatsoever falls from without, is light ; where 
 the spirit is enlarged, it cares not much for outward 
 
THE soul's conflict. 615 
 
 bondage ; where the spirit is h^tsome, it cares not 
 much for outward darkness; where the spirit is settled, 
 it cares not much for outward changes ; where the 
 spirit is one with itself, it cannot bear outward breaches ; 
 where the spirit is sound, it can bear outward sickness. 
 Nothing can be very ill with us, when all is well within. 
 This is the comfort of a holy man, that though he be 
 troubled with himself, yet by reason of the spirit in 
 him, which is his better self, he works out by degrees 
 whatever is contrary. As spring- water being clear of 
 itself, works itself clean, though it be troubled by 
 something cast in ; as the sea will endure no poison- 
 ful thing, but casts it upon the shore. But a carnal 
 man is like a spring corrupted, that cannot work it- 
 self clear, because it is wholly tainted ; his eye and 
 light is darkness, and therefore no wonder if he seeth 
 nothing. Sin lieth upon his understanding, and hin- 
 ders the knowledge of itself ; it lies close upon the will, 
 and hinders the striving against itself. 
 
 True self that is worth the owning, is when a man 
 is taken into a higher condition, and made one with 
 Christ, and esteems neither of himself nor others, as 
 happy for any thing according to the flesh. 1. He is 
 under the law and government of the Spirit, and so 
 far as he is himself, works according to that principle. 
 2. He labours more and more to be transformed into 
 the likeness of Christ, in whom he esteemeth that he 
 hath his best being. 3. He esteems of all things that 
 befall him, to be good or ill, as they further or hinder 
 his best condition. If all be well, for that, he counts 
 himself well, whatsoever else befalls him. 
 
 Another man when he doth any thing that is good, 
 acts not his own part ; but a godly man when he 
 doth good, is in his proper element; what another 
 
68 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 man doth for by-ends and reasons, that he doth from 
 a new nature ; which if there were no law to compel, 
 yet would move him to that which is pleasing to 
 Christ. If he be drawn aside by passion or tempta- 
 tion, that he judgeth not to be himself, but taketh a 
 holy revenge on himself for it, as being redeemed and 
 taken out from himself; he thinks himself no debtor, 
 nor to owe any service to his corrupt self. That 
 which he plots and projects and works for is, that 
 Christ may rule every where, and especially in him- 
 self, for he is not his own but Christ's, and therefore 
 desires to be more and more emptied of himself, that 
 Christ might be all in all in him. 
 
 Thus we see what great use there is of dealing 
 with ourselves, for the better composing and settling 
 of our souls. Which though it be a course without 
 glory and ostentation in the world, as causing a man 
 to retire inwardly into his own breast, having no 
 other witness but God and himself; and though it 
 be likewise irksome to the flesh, as caUing the soul 
 home to itself, being desirous naturally to wander 
 abroad, and be a stranger at home : yet it is a course 
 both good in itself, and makes the soul good. 
 
 For by this means the judgment is exercised and 
 rectified, the will and affections ordered, the whole 
 man put into a holy frame fit for every good action. 
 By this the tree is made good and the fruit cannot 
 but be answerable ; by this the soul itself is set in 
 tune, whence there is a pleasant harmony in our 
 whole conversation. Without this, we may do that 
 which is outwardly good to others, but we can never 
 be good ourselves. The first justice begins within, 
 when there is a due subjection of all the powers of 
 the soul to the spirit, as sanctified and guided by 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 69 
 
 God's Spirit ; when justice and order is first estab- 
 lished in the soul, it will appear from thence in all 
 our dealings. He that is at peace in himself, will be 
 peaceable to others, peaceable in his family, peaceable 
 in the church, peaceable in the state ; the soul of a 
 wicked man is in perpetual sedition ; being always 
 troubled in itself, it is no wonder if it be troublesome 
 to others. Unity in ourselves is before union with 
 others. 
 
 To conclude this first part, concerning intercourse 
 with ourselves. As we desire to enjoy ourselves, and 
 to live the life of men and of Christians, which is, to 
 understand our ways : as we desire to live comfort- 
 ably, and not to be accessory of yielding to that sorrow 
 which causeth death : as we desire to answer God 
 and ourselves, when we are to give an account of the 
 inward tumults of our souls ; as we desire to be 
 vessels prepared for every good work, and to have 
 strength to undergo any cross : as we desire to have 
 healthy souls, and to keep a sabbath within ourselves : 
 as we desire not only to do good, but to be good in 
 ourselves : so let us labour to quiet our souls, and 
 often ask a reason of ourselves. Why we should not be 
 quiet ? 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Means not to he overcharged with Sorrow, 
 
 TO help us further herein, besides that which 
 hath been formerly spoken, 
 1 . We must take heed of building an ungrounded 
 confidence of happiness for time to come : which 
 makes us when changes come, 1. Unacquainted with 
 them ; 2. Takes away expectation of them ; 3. And 
 
70 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 preparation for them. When any thing is strange 
 and sudden, and lights upon us unfurnished and un- 
 fenced, it must needs put our spirits out of frame. 
 It is good therefore to make all kind of troubles fa- 
 miliar to us, in our thoughts at least, and this will 
 break the force of them. It is good to fence our 
 souls beforehand against all assaults, as men use to 
 keep out the sea, by raising banks ; and if a breach 
 be made, to repair it presently. 
 
 We had need to maintain a strong garrison of holy 
 reasons against the assaults of strong passions ; we 
 may hope for the best, but fear the worst, and pre- 
 pare to bear whatsoever. We say that a set diet is 
 dangerous, because variety of occasions will force us 
 upon breaking of it : so in this world of changes we 
 cannot resolve upon any certain condition of life, for 
 upon alteration the mind is out of frame. We can- 
 not say this or that trouble shall not befall, yet we may, 
 by help of the Spirit, say, nothing that doth befall shall 
 make me do that which is unworthy of a Christian. 
 
 That which others make easy by suffering, that 
 a wise man maketh easy by thinking of before- 
 hand. If we expect the worst, when it comes, it is 
 no more than we thought of: if better befalls us, 
 then it is the sweeter to us, the less we expected it. 
 Our Saviour foretells the worst : In the world you 
 shall have tribulation^ Job xvi. 33, therefore look 
 for it, but then he will not leave us. Satan deludes 
 with many promises : but when the contrary falls out, 
 he leaves his followers in their distresses. We desire 
 peace and rest, but we seek it not in its own place ; 
 There is a rest for God's people, Heb. iv. 9, but that 
 is not here, nor yet; but it remains for them ; they 
 rest from their labours, Rev. xiv. 13, but that is after 
 
THE soul's conflict. 71 
 
 they are dead in the Lord, There is no sound rest 
 till then. Yet this caution must be remembered, 
 that we shape not in our fancies such troubles as are 
 never likely to fall out. It comes either from weak- 
 ness or guiltiness, to fear shadows. We shall not 
 need to make crosses, they will, as we say of foul 
 weather, come before they be sent for. How many 
 evils do people fear, from which they have no further 
 hurt than what is bred only by their causeless fears ? 
 Nor yet, if they be probable, must we think of them 
 so as to be altogether so affected, as if undoubtedly 
 they would come, for so we give certain strength to 
 an uncertain cross, and usurp upon God, by antici- 
 pating that which may never come to pass. It was 
 rashness in David to say, / shall one day perish by 
 the hand of Saul , 1 Sam. xxvii. 1. 
 
 If they be such troubles as will certainly come to 
 pass, as parting with friends and contentments, at 
 least, by death ; then 1 . Think of them so as not to 
 be much dismayed, but furnish thy heart with strength 
 before hand, that they may fall the lighter. 2. Think 
 of them so as not to give up the bucklers to passion, 
 and lie open as a fair mark for any uncomfortable 
 accident to strike to the heart; nor yet so think of 
 them as to despise them, but to consider of God's 
 meaning in them, and how to take good by them. 
 3. Think of the things we enjoy, so as to moderate 
 our enjoying of them, by considering there must be 
 a parting, and therefore how we shall be able to bear 
 it when it comes. 
 
 2. If we desire not to be overcharged with sorrow, 
 when that which we fear is fallen upon us, we must 
 then beforehand look that our love to any thing in 
 this world shoot not so far as that, when the time of 
 
72 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 severing cometh, we part with so much of our hearts 
 by that rent. Those that love too much will always 
 grieve too much. It is the greatness of our affections 
 which causeth the sharpness of our afflictions. He 
 that cannot abound without pride and high minded- 
 ness will not want without too much dejectedness. 
 Love is planted for such things as can return love ; 
 and make us better by loving them, wherein we shall 
 satisfy our love to the full. It is pity so sweet an af- 
 fection should be lost ; so sorrow is for sin, and for 
 other things as they make sin the more bitter to us. 
 The life of a Christian should be a meditation how to 
 unloose his affections from inferior things; he will 
 easily die that is dead before in affection. But this 
 will never be unless the soul seeth something better 
 than all things in the world, upon which it may bestow 
 itself. In that measure our affections die in their ex- 
 cessive motion to things below, as they are taken up 
 with the love and admiration of the best things. He 
 that is much in heaven in his thoughts is free from 
 being tossed with tempests here below ; the top of 
 those mountains that are above the middle region, 
 are so quiet as that the lightest things, as ashes, lie 
 still and are not moved. The way to mortify earthly 
 members, that bestir themselves in us, is to mind 
 things above, Col. iii. 1, 5. The more the ways of 
 wisdom lead us on high, the more we avoid the snares 
 below. 
 
 In the uncertainty of all events here, labour to 
 frame that contentment in and from our own selves, 
 which the things themselves will not yield ; frame peace 
 by freeing our hearts from too much fear, and riches 
 by freeing our hearts from covetous desires. Frame 
 a sufficiency out of contentedness ; if the soul itself 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 73 
 
 be out of tune, outward things will do no more good 
 than a fair shoe to a gouty foot. 
 
 And seek not ourselves abroad out of ourselves in 
 the conceits of other men. A man shall never live 
 quietly that hath not learned to be set light by of 
 others. He that is little in his own eyes will not be 
 troubled to be little in the eyes of others. Men that 
 set too high a price upon themselves, when others 
 will not come to their price, are discontent. Those 
 whose condition is above their worth, and their pride 
 above their condition, shall never want sorrow; yet 
 we must maintain our authority and the image of 
 God in our places, for that is God's and not ours ; 
 and we ought so to carry ourselves as we approve 
 ourselves to their consciences, though we have not 
 their good words ; Let none despise thy youth, saith 
 Saint Paul to Timothy ; that is, ivalk so before them 
 as they shall have no cause. It is not in our own 
 power what other men think or speak, but it is in our 
 power, by God's grace, to live so that none can think 
 ill of us, but by slandering, and none believe ill but 
 by too much credulity. 
 
 3. When any thing seizeth upon us, we must take 
 heed we mingle not our own passions with it; we 
 must neither bring sin to, nor mingle sin with the 
 suffering; for that* will trouble the spirit more than 
 the trouble itself. We are more to deal with our 
 own hearts than with the trouble itself. We are not 
 hurt till our souls be hurt. God will not have it in 
 the power of any creature to hurt our souls, but by 
 our own treason against ourselves. 
 
 Therefore we should have our hearts in continual 
 jealousy, for they are ready to deceive the best. In 
 sudden encounters, some sin doth many times discover 
 
T4 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 itself, the seed whereof heth hid in our natures, which 
 we think ourselves very free from. Who would have 
 thought the seeds of murmuring had lurked in the 
 meek nature of Moses ? That the seeds of murther 
 had lurked in the pitiful heart of David ? 2 Sam. xii. 
 9. That the seeds of denial of Christ, Mat. xxvi. 72, 
 had lien hid in the zealous affection of Peter towards 
 Christ ? If passions break out from us, which we are 
 not naturally inclined unto, and over which by grace 
 we have got a great conquest, how watchful need we 
 be over ourselves in those things, which by temper, 
 custom, and company, we are carried unto ? and what 
 cause have we to fear continually that we are worse 
 than we take ourselves to be ? 
 
 There are many unruly passions lie hid in us, until 
 they be drawn out by something that meeteth with 
 them; either 1. by way of opposition, as when the 
 truth of God spiritually unfolded meets with some be- 
 loved corruption, it swelleth bigger ; the force of gun- 
 powder is not known until some spark light on it ; 
 and oftentimes the stillest natures, if crossed, discover 
 the deepest corruptions. Sometimes it is drawn out 
 by dealing with the opposite spirits of other men. 
 Oftentimes retired men know not what lies hid in 
 themselves. 
 
 2. Sometimes by crosses, as many people whilst the 
 freshness and vigour of their spirits lasteth, and while 
 the flower of age, and a full supply of all things conti- 
 nueth, seem to be of a pleasing and calm disposition ; 
 but afterwards, when changes come, like Job's wife, 
 they are discovered. Then that which in nature is 
 unsubdued, openly appears. 
 
 3. Temptations likewise have a searching power to 
 bring that to hght in us which was hidden before. 
 
THE soul's conflict. 75 
 
 Satan hatli been a winnower and a sifter of old, Luke 
 xxii. 3 : he thought if Job had been but touched in his 
 body, he would have cursed God to his face, Job i. 
 
 Some men out of policy conceal their passion, 
 until they see some advantage to let it out; as Esau 
 smothered his hatred until his father's death. When 
 the restraint is taken away, men, as we say, show 
 themselves in their pure naturals ; unloose a tiger or 
 a lion, and you know what he is. 
 
 4. Further, let us see more every day into the state 
 of our own souls ; what a shame is it that so nimble 
 and swift a spirit as the soul is, that can mount up to 
 heaven, and from thence come down into the earth in 
 an instant, should, whilst it looks over all other things, 
 overlook itself ? that it should be skilful in the story, 
 almost, of all times and places, and yet ignorant of 
 the story of itself? that we should know what is done 
 in the court and country, and beyond the seas, and 
 be ignorant of what is done at home in our own 
 hearts ? that we should live known to others, and yet 
 die unknown to ourselves ? that we should be able to 
 give account of any thing better than of ourselves to 
 ourselves? This is the cause why we stand in our 
 own light; why we think better of ourselves than 
 others, and better than is cause. This is that which 
 hindereth all reformation ; for how can we reform that 
 which we are not willing to see, and so we lose one 
 of the surest evidences of our sincerity, which is, a 
 wiUingness to search into our hearts, and to be searched 
 by others. A sincere heart will offer itself to trial. 
 
 And therefore let us sift our actions, and our pas- 
 sions, and see what is flesh in them, and what is spirit, 
 and so separate the precious from the vile. It is 
 good hkewise to consider what sin we were guilty of 
 
76 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 before, which moved Gocl to give us up to excess in 
 any passion, and wherein we have grieved his Spirit. 
 Passion will be more moderate when thus it knows it 
 must come to the trial and censure. This course will 
 either make us weary of passion, or else passion will 
 make us weary of this strict course. We shall find 
 it the safest way to give our hearts no rest, till we 
 have wrought on them to purpose, and gotten the 
 mastery over them. 
 
 When the soul is inured to this dealing with itself, 
 it will learn the skill to command, and passions will 
 be soon commanded, as being inured to be examined 
 and checked ; as we see dogs, and such like domes- 
 tical creatures, that will not regard a stranger, yet 
 will be quieted in brawls presently, by the voice of 
 their master, to which they ace accustomed. This 
 tits us for service. Unbroken spirits are like unbroken 
 horses, unfit for any use, until they be thoroughly 
 subdued. 
 
 5. And it were best to prevent, as much as in us 
 lieth, the very first risings, before the soul be over- 
 cast ; passions are but little motions at the first, but 
 grow as rivers do, greater and greater, the further 
 they are carried from the spring. The first risings 
 are the more to be looked unto, because there is most 
 danger in them, and we have least care over them. 
 Sin, like rust, or a canker, will by little and little eat 
 out all the graces of the soul. There is no staying 
 when we are once down the hill, till we come to the 
 bottom. No sin but is easier kept out, than driven 
 out. If we cannot prevent wicked thoughts, yet we 
 may deny them lodging in our hearts. It is our 
 giving willing entertainment to sinful motions, that 
 increaseth guilt, and hindereth our peace. It is that 
 
THE soul's conflict. 77 
 
 which moveth God to give us up to a further degree 
 of evil affections. Therefore what we are afraid to do 
 before men, we should be afraid to think before God. 
 It would much further our peace to keep our judg- 
 ments clear, as being the eye of the soul, whereby we 
 may discern in every action and passion, what is good, 
 and what is evil; as likewise to preserve tenderness 
 of heart, that may check us at the first, and not brook 
 the least evil being discovered. When the heart be- 
 gins once to be kindled, it is easy to smother the 
 smoke of passion, which otherwise will fume up into 
 the head, and gather into so thick a cloud, as we 
 shall lose the sight of ourselves, and what is best to 
 be done. And therefore David here labours to take 
 up his heart at the first ; his care was to crush the 
 very first insurrections of his soul, before they came 
 to break forth into open rebellion : storms we know 
 rise out of little gusts. Little risings neglected cover 
 the soul before we are aware. If we would check 
 these risings and stifle them in their birth, they would 
 not break out afterwards to the reproach of rehgion, 
 to the scandal of the weak, to the offence of the strong, 
 to the grief of God's Spirit in us, to the disturbance 
 of our own spirits in doing good, and to the disheart- 
 ening of us in troubling of our inward peace, and 
 thereby weakening our assurance. Therefore let us 
 stop beginnings as much as may be ; and so soon as 
 they begin to rise, let us begin to examine what raised 
 them, and whither they are about to carry us. Psalm 
 iv. The way to be still, is to examine ourselves first; 
 and then censure what stands not with reason. As 
 David doth, when he had given way to unbefitting 
 thoughts of God's providence. So foolish ^ saith he, 
 was I, and as a beast before thee, Psalm Ixxiii. 22. 
 
78 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 Especially, then look to these sinful stirrings when 
 thou art to deal with God. I am to have communion 
 with a God of peace ; what then do turbulent thoughts 
 and affections in my heart ? I am to deal with a pa- 
 tient God, why should I cherish revengeful thoughts ? 
 Abraham drove away the birds from the sacrifice^ 
 Gen. XV. 11. Troublesome thoughts like birds will 
 come before they be sent for, but they should find 
 entertainment accordingly. 
 
 6. In all our grievances let us look to something 
 that may comfort us, as well as discourage : look to 
 that we enjoy, as well as that we want. As in pros- 
 perity God mingles some crosses to diet us ; so in all 
 crosses there is something to comfort us. As there is 
 a vanity lies hid in the best worldly good, so there is 
 a blessing lies hid in the worst worldly evil, God 
 usually maketh up that with some advantage in an- 
 other kind, wherein we are inferior to others. Others 
 are in greater place, so they are in greater danger. 
 Others be richer, so their cares and snares be greater; 
 the poor in the world may be richer in faith than 
 they. Jam, ii. 5. The soul can better digest and 
 master a low estate than a prosperous, and if under 
 some abasement, it is in a less distance from God. 
 Others are not so afflicted as we, then they have less 
 experience of God's gracious power than we. Others 
 may have more healthy bodies, but souls less weaned 
 from the world. We would not change conditions 
 with them, so as to have their spirits with their con- 
 dition. For one half of our lives, the meanest are as 
 happy and free from cares, as the greatest monarch : 
 that is, whilst both sleep ; and usually the sleep of the 
 one is sweeter than the sleep of the other. What is 
 all that the earth can afford us, if God deny health? 
 
THE soul's conflict. 79 
 
 and this a man in the meanest condition may enjoy. 
 That wherein one man differs from another, is but 
 title, and but for a Httle time ; death leveleth all. 
 
 There is scarce any man, but the good he receives 
 from God is more than the ill he feels, if our unthankful 
 hearts would suffer us to think so. Is not our health 
 more than our sickness ? do w^e not enjoy more than 
 we want, I mean, of the things that are necessary ; 
 are not our good days more than our evil ? but we 
 would go to heaven upon roses, and usually one cross 
 is more taken to heart, than a hundred blessings. 
 So unkindly we deal with God. Is God indebted to 
 us ? doth he owe us any thing ? those that deserve 
 nothing, should be content with any thing. 
 
 We should look to others as good as ourselves, as 
 well as to ourselves, and then we shall see it is not 
 our own case only ; who are we that we should look 
 for an exempted condition from those troubles which 
 God's dearest children are addicted unto ? 
 
 Thus when we are surprised contrary to our look- 
 ing for and liking, we should study rather how to 
 exercise some grace, than give way to any passion. 
 Think now is a time to exercise our patience, our 
 wisdom, and other graces. By this means we shall 
 turn that to our greatest advantage, which Satan in- 
 tendeth greatest hurt to us by. Thus we shall not 
 only master every condition, but make it serviceable 
 to our good. If nature teach bees, not only to ga- 
 ther honey out of sweet flowers, but out of bitter, 
 shall not grace teach us to draw even out of the bit- 
 terest condition something to better our souls ? we 
 learn to tame all creatures, even the wildest, that we 
 may bring them to our use ; and why should we give 
 way to our own unruly passions ? 
 
80 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 7. It were good to have in our eye the beauty of 
 a well ordered soul, and we should think that nothing 
 in this world is of sufficient worth to put us out of 
 frame. The sanctified soul should be like the sun 
 in this, which though it worketh upon all these infe- 
 rior bodies, and cherisheth them by light and influ- 
 ence ; yet is not moved nor wrought upon by them 
 again, but keepeth its own lustre and distance : so 
 our spirits, being of a heavenly breed, should rule other 
 things beneath them, and not be ruled by them. It 
 is a holy state of soul to be under the power of nothing 
 beneath itself. Are we stirred ? then consider, is this 
 matter worth the loss of my quiet ? What we esteem, 
 that we love, what we love, we labour for ; and there- 
 fore let us esteem highly of a clear calm temper, where- 
 by we both enjoy our God and ourselves, and know 
 how to rank all things else. It is against nature for 
 inferior things to rule that, which the wise disposer of 
 all things hath set above them. We owe the flesh 
 neither suit nor service, we are no debtors to it. 
 
 The more we set before the soul that quiet estate in 
 heaven, which the souls of perfect men now enjoy, and 
 itself ere long shall enjoy there, the more it will be 
 in love with it, and endeavour to attain unto it. And 
 because the soul never worketh better, than when it 
 is raised up by some strong and sweet affection ; let 
 us look upon our nature, as it is in Christ, in whom 
 it is pure, sweet, calm, meek, every way lovely. This 
 sight is a changing sight, love is an aflection of imi- 
 tation, we affect a likeness to him we love. Let us 
 learn of Christ to be humble and meek, and then we 
 shall find rest to our souls, Matt. xi. 29. The set- 
 ting of an excellent idea and platform before us, will 
 raise and draw up our souls higher, and make us sen- 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 81 
 
 sible of the least moving of spirit, that shall be con- 
 trary to that, the attainment whereof we have in our 
 desires. He will hardly attain to mean things, that sets 
 not before him higher perfection. Naturally we love to 
 see symmetry and proportion, even in a dead picture, 
 and are much taken with some curious piece. But why 
 should we not rather labour to keep the affections of 
 the soul in due proportion ? seeing a meek and well 
 ordered soul is not only lovely in the sight of men and 
 angels, but is much set by, by the great God himself. 
 But now the greatest care of those that set highest 
 price upon themselves is, how to compose their out- 
 ward carriage in some graceful manner, never study- 
 ing how to compose their spirits ; and rather how to 
 cover the deformity of their passions than to cure them. 
 Whence it is that the foulest inward vices are covered 
 with the fairest vizards, and to make this the worse, 
 all this is counted the best breeding. 
 
 The Hebrews placed all their happiness in peace, 
 and when they would comprise much in one word, 
 they would wish peace. This was that the angels 
 rought news of from Heaven, at the birth of Christ. 
 Now peace riseth out of quietness and order, and God 
 that is the God of peace ^ is the God of order first, 
 1 Cor. xiv. 33. What is health, but when all the 
 members are in their due positure, and all the humours 
 in a settled quiet ? Whence ariseth the beauty of the 
 world, but from that comely order wherein every crea- 
 ture is placed ; the more glorious and excellent crea- 
 tures above, and the less below ? So it is in the soul ; 
 the best constitution of it is when by the Spirit of 
 God it is so ordered, as that all be in subjection to 
 the law of the mind. What a sight were it for the 
 feet to be where the head is, and the earth to be 
 
82 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 where the heaven is, to see all turned upside down ? 
 And to a spiritual eye it seems as great a deformity, 
 to see the soul to be under the rule of sinful passions. 
 
 ComeKness riseth out of the fit proportion of divers 
 members to make up one body, when every member 
 hath a beauty in itself, and is likewise well suited to 
 other parts ; a fair face and a crooked body, comely 
 upper parts, and the lower parts uncomely, suit not 
 well ; because comehness stands in oneness, in a fit 
 agreement of many parts to one ; when there is the 
 head of a man, and the body of a beast, it is a mon- 
 ster in nature ; and is it not as monstrous for to have 
 an understanding head, and a fierce untamed heart ? 
 It cannot but raise up a holy indignation in us against 
 these risings, when we consider how unbeseeming 
 they are ; what do these base passions in a heart de- 
 dicated to God, and given up to the government of 
 his Spirit ? What an indignity is it for princes to go 
 afoot, and servants on horseback ? for those to rule, 
 whose place is to be ruled ? as being good attendants, 
 but bad guides. It was Cham's curse to be a servant 
 of servants. 
 
 8. This must be strengthened with a strong self- 
 denial, without which there can be no good done in 
 religion. 
 
 There be two things that most trouble us in the 
 way to heaven ; corruption within us, and the cross 
 without us ; that which is within us must be denied, 
 that that which is without us may be endured. Other- 
 wise we cannot follow him by whom we look to be 
 saved. The gate, the entrance of religion, is narrow ; 
 we must strip ourselves of ourselves before we can 
 enter ; if we bring any ruling lust to religion, it will 
 prove a bitter root of some gross sin, or of apostacy 
 and final desperation. 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 83 
 
 Those that sought the praise of men, more than 
 the praise of God, John xii. 43, could not beHeve, 
 because that lust of ambition would, when it should 
 be crossed, draw them away. The young man thought 
 it better for Christ to lose a disciple, than that he 
 should losehis possession. Matt. xix. 22, and therefore 
 went away as he came ; Matt. xiii. 25. The third 
 {ground came to nothing, because the plough had not 
 gone deep enough to break up the roots, whereby 
 their hearts were fastened to earthly contentments. 
 This self-denial we must carry with us through all 
 the parts of religion, both in our active and passive 
 obedience ; for in obedience there must be a subjec- 
 tion to a superior ; but corrupt self, neither is subject, 
 nor can be, Rom. viii. it will have an oar in every 
 thing, and maketh every thing, yea, religion service- 
 able to itself. It is the idol of the world, or rather 
 the god that is set highest of all in the soul ; and so 
 God himself is made but an idol. It is hard to deny 
 a friend who is another self, harder to deny a wife 
 that heth in the bosom, but most hard to deny our- 
 selves. Nothing so near us as ourselves to ourselves, 
 and yet nothing so far off. Nothing so dear, and 
 yet nothing so malicious and troublesome. Hypo- 
 crites would part with the fruit of their body, Mic. 
 vi. sooner than the sin of their souls. 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 Signs of victory over ourselves, and of a subdued 
 spirit, 
 
 JT^UT how shall we know, whether we have by 
 -'-^ grace got the victory over ourselves or not? 
 
 I answer, 1. If in good actions we stand not so 
 much upon the credit of the action, as upon the good 
 
84 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 that is done. What we do as unto God, we look for 
 acceptance from God. It was Jonas his fault to 
 stand more upon his own reputation, than the glory 
 of God's mercy. It is a prevaihng sign, when though 
 there be no outward encouragements, nay, though 
 there be discouragements, yet we can rest in the com- 
 fort of a good intention. For usually inward com- 
 fort is a note of inward sincerity. Jehu must be seen, 
 or else all is lost, 2 Kings x. 16. 
 
 2. It is a good evidence of some prevailing, when 
 upon religious grounds we can cross ourselves in those 
 things unto which our hearts stand most affected; 
 this showeth we reserve God his own place in our 
 hearts. 
 
 3. When being privy to our own inchnation and 
 temper, we have gotten such a supply of spirit, as 
 that the grace which is contrary to our temper appears 
 J n us. As oft we see, none more patient, than those 
 that are naturally inclined to intemperancy of passion, 
 because natural proneness makes them jealous over 
 themselves. Some out of fear of being overmuch 
 moved, are not moved so much as they should be: 
 this jealousy stirreth us up to a careful use of all helps, 
 where grace is helped by nature, there a little grace 
 will go far; but where there is much untowardness 
 of nature, there much grace is not so well discerned. 
 Sour wines need much sweetening ; and that is most 
 spiritual which hath least help from nature, and is 
 won by prayer and pains. 
 
 4. When we are not partial when the things con- 
 cern ourselves. David could allow himself another 
 man's wife, and yet judgeth another man worthy of 
 death for taking away ^poor man's lamb, 2. Sam. xii. 
 4. Men usually favour themselves too much, when 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 85 
 
 they are chancellors in their own cause, and measure 
 all things by their private interest. He hath taken a 
 good degree in Christ's school, that hath learned to 
 foro:et himself here. 
 
 5. It is a good sign, when upon discovery of self- 
 seeking we can gain upon our corruption; and are 
 wiUing to search and to be searched, what our incli- 
 nation is, and where it faileth. That which we favour, 
 we are tender of, it must not be touched. A good 
 heart, when any corruption is discovered by a search- 
 ing ministry, is affected as if it had found out a deadly 
 enenw. Touchiness and passion argues guilt. 
 
 6^ This is a sign of a man's victory over himself, 
 when he loves health and peace of body and mind, 
 with a supply of all needful things, chiefly for this 
 end, that he may with more freedom of spirit serve 
 God in doing good to others.^ So soon as grace en- 
 tereth into the heart, it frameth the heart to be in 
 some measure public : and thinks it hath not its end, 
 in the bare enjoying of any thing, until it can improve 
 what it hath for a further end. Thus to seek our- 
 selves is to deny ourselves, and thus to deny ourselves 
 is truly to seek ourselves. It is no self-seeking, when 
 we care for no more than that, without which we can- 
 not comfortably serve God. When the soul can say 
 unto God, Lord, as thou wouldst have me serve thee 
 in my place, so grant me such a measure of health 
 and strength, wherein I may serve thee. 
 
 But what if God thinks it good, that I shall serve 
 him in weakness, and in want, and suffering. 
 
 Then, it is a comfortable sign of gaining over our 
 own wills, when we can yield ourselves to be disposed 
 of by God, as knowing best what is good for us. 
 There is no condition but therein we may exercise 
 
66 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 some grace, and honour God in some measure. Yet 
 because some enlargement of condition is ordinarily 
 that estate wherein we are best able to do good in ; we 
 may in the use of means desire it, and upon that, re- 
 sign up ourselves wholly unto God, and make his will 
 our will, without exception or reservation, and care for 
 nothing more than we can have with his leave and love. 
 This Job had exercised his heart unto ; whereupon 
 in that great change of condition, he sinned not, Job ii. 
 that is, fell not into the sins incident to that dejected 
 and miserable state ; into sins of rebellion and dis- 
 content. He carried his crosses comely, with that 
 staidness and resignedness, which became a holy 
 man. 
 
 7. It is further a clear evidence of a spirit subdued, 
 when we will discover the truth of our affection to- 
 wards God and his people though with censure of 
 others. David was content to endure the censure of 
 neglecting the state and majesty of a king, out of joy 
 for settling the ark. Nehemiah could not dissemble 
 his grief for the ruins of the church, though in the 
 king's presence : Neh, ii. 3. It is a comfortable sign 
 of the wasting of self-love, when we can be at a point 
 what becomes of ourselves, so it go well with the cause 
 of God and the church. 
 
 Now the way to prevail still more over ourselves, 
 as when we are to do or suffer any thing, or withstand 
 any person in a good cause, &c. is, not to think that 
 we are to deal with men, yea, or with devils so much 
 as with ourselves. The saints resisted their enemies 
 to death, by resisting their own corruptions first : if 
 we once get the victory over ourselves, all other things 
 are conquered to our ease. All the hurt Satan and 
 the world do us, is by correspondency with ourselves. 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 87 
 
 All things are so far under us, as we are above our- 
 selves. 
 
 For the further subduing of ourselves, it is good to 
 follow sin to the first hold and castle, which is corrupt 
 nature ; the streams will lead us to the spring head : 
 indeed the most apparent discovery of sin is in the 
 outward carriage ; we see it in the fruit before in the 
 root ; as we see grace in the expression before in the 
 affection : but yet we shall never hate sin thoroughly, 
 until we consider it in the poisoned root from whence 
 it ariseth. 
 
 That which least troubles a natural man, doth most 
 of all trouble a true christian ; a natural man is some- 
 times troubled with the fruit of his corruption, and 
 the consequents of guilt and punishment that attend 
 it ; but a true-hearted christian, with corruption itself; 
 this drives him to complain with St. Paul, wretched 
 man that I am, who shall deliver me, not from the 
 members only, but yVom this body of death ? Rom. vii. 
 which is as noisome to my soul, as a dead carrion is 
 to my senses ; which together with the members, is 
 marvellously nimble and active; and hath no days, 
 or hours, or minutes of rest ; always laying about it 
 to enlarge itself, and like spring water, which the more 
 it issueth out, the more it may. 
 
 It is a good way, upon any particular breach of 
 our inward peace, presently to have recourse to that 
 which breeds and foments all our disquiet. Lord ! 
 what do I complain of this my unruly passion? I carry 
 a nature about me subject to break out continually 
 upon any occasion ; Lord ! strike at the root, and 
 dry up the fountain in me. Thus David doth arise 
 from the guilt of those two foul sins, of murder and 
 adultery, Psalm li. to the sin of his nature, the root 
 
88 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 itself; as if he should say, Lord ! it is not these actual 
 sins that defile me only ; but if I look back to my first 
 conception, I was tainted in the spring of my nature. 
 This is that which put David's soul so much out 
 of frame ; for from whence was this contradiction ? 
 and whence was this contradiction so unwearied, in 
 making head again and again against the checks of the 
 Spirit in him ? Whence was it that corruption would 
 not be said nay? Whence were these sudden and 
 unlooked for objections of the flesh? but from the 
 remainder of old Adam in him, which like a Michal 
 within us is either scoffing at the ways of God ; or as 
 Job*s wife, fretting and thwarting the motions of God's 
 Spirit in us; which prevails the more, because it is 
 homebred in us : whereas holy motions are strangers 
 to most of our souls. Corruption is loath that a new 
 comer in should take so much upon him as to control : 
 as the Sodomites thought much that Lot being a 
 stranger should intermeddle amongst them. . Gen, xix. 
 9. If God once leave us as he did Hezekiah to try 
 what is in us, what should he find but darkness, rebel- 
 hon, unruliness, doubtings, &c. in the best of us ? this 
 flesh of ours hath principles against all God*s princi- 
 ples, and laws against all God's laws, and reasons 
 ao:ainst all God's reasons. Oh ! If we could but one 
 whole hour seriously think of the impure issue of our 
 hearts, it would bring us down upon our knees in hu- 
 miliation before God. But we can never whilst we 
 live, so thoroughly as we should, see into the depth 
 of our deceitful hearts, nor yet be humbled enough 
 for what we see ; for though we speak of it and con- 
 fess it, yet we are not so sharpened against this cor- 
 rupt flesh of ours, as we should. How should it hum- 
 ble us, that the seeds of the vilest sin, even of the sin 
 
THE SOUL'S COKFLICT./^-^ -^ ,y - ^ i|k <P ^ T T 
 
 against the Holy Ghost, is in us ? aim no thank to ^ v 
 
 us that they break not out. It should humble us to , ^ V^ 
 hear of any great enormous sin in another man, con- s^^^i^*"'^''^ 
 sidering what our own nature would proceed unto if 
 it were not restrained. We may see our own nature 
 in them as face answering face ; if God should take 
 his Spirit from us, there is enough in us to defile a 
 whole world; and although we be ingrafted into Christ, 
 yet we carry about us a relish of the old stock still. - P^^'^'^t 
 David was a man of a good natural constitution ; and ^ ^" 
 
 for grace, a man after God's own heart, and had got 
 the better of himself in a great measure, and had 
 learned to overcome himself in matter of revenge, as 
 in Saul's case, 1 Sam, xxiv. 6 : yet now we see the 
 vessel is shaken a little, and the dregs appear that 
 were in the bottom before. Alas ! we know not our 
 own hearts, till we plough with God's heifer, till his 
 Spirit bringeth a light into our souls. It is good ta 
 consider how this impure spring breaks out diversly^ 
 in the divers conditions we are in ; there is no estate 
 of life, nor no action we undertake, wherein it will 
 not put forth itself to defile us : it is so full of poison 
 that it taints whatsoever we do, both our natures, con- 
 ditions, and actions. In a prosperous condition, like 
 David, we think we shall never be moved, Psalm xxx. 
 6. Under the Cross the soul is troubled, and drawn 
 to murmur, and to be sullen, and sink down in dis- 
 couragement, to be in a heat almost to blasphemy, 
 to be weary of our callings, and to quarrel with every 
 thing in our way. See the folly and fury of most 
 men in this, for us silly worms to contradict the great 
 God : and to whose peril is it ? Is it not our own ? 
 let us gather ourselves with all our wit and strength 
 together. Alas ! what can we do but provoke him, and 
 
^0 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 get more stripes ? we may be sure he will deal with 
 us, as we deal with our children, if they be froward 
 and unquiet for lesser matters, we will make them cry 
 and be sullen for something : refractory, stubborn 
 horses are the more spurred, and yet shake not off 
 the rider. 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 Of oriyiiial right eousnesSynatuj-al corruption, Satan s 
 joining with it, and our duty thereupon. 
 
 § I. T) UT here mark a plot of spiritual treason ; 
 X3 Satan joining with our corruption, setteth 
 the wit on work to persuade the soul, that this in- 
 ward rebellion is not so bad, because it is natural to 
 us, as a condition of nature rising out of the first 
 principles in our creation, and was curbed in by the 
 bridle of original righteousness, which they would 
 have accessary and supernatural, and therefore allege 
 that concupiscence is less odious and more excusable 
 in us, and so no great danger in yielding and betraying 
 our souls unto it, and by that means persuading us, 
 that that which is our deadhest enemy, hath no harm 
 in it, nor meaneth any to us. 
 
 This rebeUion of lusts against the understanding is 
 not natural, as our nature came out of God's hands 
 at the first : Gen, i. For this being evil and the 
 cause of evil, could not come from God who is good, 
 and the cause of all good, and nothing but good : 
 who upon the creation of all things pronounced them 
 good, and after the creation of man pronounced of 
 all things that they were very good. Now that which 
 is ill and. very ill, cannot be seated at the same time 
 in that which is good and iwry good: God created 
 
THE soul's conflict. 91 
 
 man at the first, right, he of himself 50 w^ A ^ out many 
 inventions. As God beautified the heaven with stars, 
 and decked the earth with variety of plants, and herbs, 
 and flowers ; so he adorned man his prime creature 
 here below, with all those endowments that were fit 
 for a happy condition, and original righteousness was 
 fit and due to an original and happy condition. 
 Therefore as the angels were created with all angehcal 
 perfections, and as our bodies were created in an ab- 
 solute temper of all the humours ; so the soul was 
 created in that sweet harmony wherein there was no 
 discord, as an instrument in tune fit to be moved to 
 any duty ; as a clean neat glass the soul represented 
 God's image and holiness. 
 
 § II. Therefore it is so far, that concupiscence 
 should be natural, that the contrary to it, namely^ 
 righteousness, wherein Adam was created, was natural 
 to him ; though it were planted in man's nature by 
 God, and so in regard of the cause of it, was super- 
 natural, yet because it was agreeable to that happy 
 condition, without which he could not subsist, in that 
 respect it w^as natural, and should have been derived, 
 if he had stood, together with his nature, to his pos- 
 terity. As heat in the air, though it hath its first 
 impression from the heat of the sun, yet is natural, 
 because it agreeth to the nature of that element : 
 though man be compounded of a spiritual and earthly 
 substance, yet it is natural that the baser earthly 
 part should be subject to the superior, because where 
 there is different degrees of worthiness, it is fit there 
 should be a subordination of the meaner to that which 
 is in order higher. The body naturally desires food 
 and bodily contentments, yet in a man endued with 
 
92 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 reason this desire is governed so as it becomes not 
 inordinate : a beast sins not in its appetite, because 
 it hath no power above to order it. A man that 
 hves in a sohtary place far remote from company, may 
 take his Hberty to Hve as it pleaseth him ; but if he 
 comes to hve under the government of some well or- 
 dered city, then he is bound to submit to the laws, 
 and customs of that city, under penalty, upon any 
 breach of order : so the risings of the soul, howsoever 
 in other creatures they are not blamable, having no 
 commander in themselves, above them, yet in man 
 they are to be ordered by reason and judgment. 
 
 Therefore it cannot be, that concupiscence should 
 be natural, in regard of the state of creation ; it was 
 Adam's sin which had many sins in the womb of it, 
 that brought this disorder upon the soul ; Adam's 
 person first corrupted our nature, and nature being 
 corrupted, corrupts our persons, and our persons 
 being corrupted, increase the corruption of our na- 
 ture, by custom of sinning, which is another nature 
 in us ; as a stream the farther it runs from the spring 
 head, the more it enlargeth its channel, by the run- 
 ning of lesser rivers into it, until it empties itself into 
 the sea ; so corruption till it be overpowered by grace, 
 swelleth bigger and bigger, so that though this dis- 
 order was not natural, in regard of the first creation, 
 yet since the fall it is become natural, even as we call 
 that which is common to the whole kind, and propa- 
 gated from parents to their children, to be natural ; 
 so that it is both natural and against nature, natural 
 now, but against nature in its first perfection. 
 ''And because corruption is natural to us, therefore 
 1. We delight in it, whence it comes to pass, that our 
 souls are carried along in an easy current, to the 
 committing of any sin without opposition. 2. Be- 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 93 
 
 cause it is natural, therefore it is unwearied and rest- 
 less, as light bodies are not wearied in their motion 
 upwards, nor heavy bodies in their motion down- 
 wards, nor a stream in its running to the sea, because 
 it is natural : hence it is that the old man is never 
 tired in the works of the flesh ; nor never drawn dry. 
 When men cannot act sin, yet they will love sin, and 
 act it over again by pleasing thoughts of it, and by 
 sinful speculation suck out the delight of sin; and 
 are grieved, not for their sin, but because they want 
 strength and opportunity to commit it ; if sin would 
 not leave them, they would never leave sin. This 
 corruption of our nature is not wrought in us by rea- 
 son and persuasions, for then it might be satisfied 
 with reasons, but it is in us by way of a natural inch- 
 nation, as iron is carried to the loadstone; and till 
 our natures be altered, no reason will long prevail, 
 but our sinful disposition, as a stream stopped for a 
 little while, will break out with greater violence. 3. 
 Being natural, it needs no help, as the earth needs no 
 tillage to bring forth weeds. When our corrupt na- 
 ture is carried contrary to that which is good, it is 
 carried of itself. As when Satan lies or murders, it 
 comes from his own cursed nature ; and though Sa- 
 tan joineth with our corrupt nature, yet the prone - 
 ness to sin, and the consent unto it, is of ourselves. , 
 
 § III. But how shall we know, that Satan joins with 
 our nature, in those actions unto which nature itself 
 is prone ? 
 
 Then Satan adda his help, when our nature is car- 
 ried more eagerly than ordinary to sin; as when a 
 stream runs violently, we may know that there is not 
 only the tide, but the wind that carrieth it. 
 
 So in sudden and violent rebelhons, it is Satan that 
 
94 THE SOUL*S CONFLICT. 
 
 pusheth on nature left to itself of God. A stone 
 falls downward by its own w^eight, but if it falls very 
 swiftly, we know it is thrown down by an outward 
 mover. Though there were no devil, yet our corrupt 
 nature would act Satan's part against itself, it would 
 have a supply of wickedness (as a serpent doth poi- 
 son) from itself, it hath a spring to feed it. 
 
 But that man whilst he lives here is not altogether 
 excluded from hope of happiness, and hath a nature 
 not so large and capable of sin as Satan's; where- 
 upon he is not so obstinate in hating God, and work- 
 ing mischief as he, &c. Otherwise there is for kind 
 the same cursed disposition, and malice of nature 
 against true goodness in man, which is in the devils 
 and damned spirits themselves. 
 
 It is no mitigation of sin, to plead it is natural, for 
 natural diseases, as leprosies, that are derived from 
 parents, are most dangerous, and least curable ; neither 
 is this any excuse, for because as it is natural, so it 
 is voluntary, not only in Adam, in whose loins we 
 were, and therefore sinned ; but likewise in regard 
 of ourselves, who are so far from stopping the course 
 of sin either in ourselves or others, that we feed and 
 strengthen it, or at least give more way to it, and 
 provide less against it than we should, until we come 
 under the government of grace : and by that means, 
 we justify Adam's sin, and that corrupt estate that 
 foUoweth upon it, and show, that if we had been in 
 Adam's condition ourselves, we would have made that 
 ill choice which he made. And though this corruption 
 of our nature be necessary to us, yet it is no violent 
 necessity from an outward cause, but a necessity that 
 we willingly pull upon ourselves, and therefore ought 
 the more to humble us ; for the more necessarily we 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 95 
 
 sin, the more voluntarily, and the more voluntarily, 
 the more necessarily ; the will putting itself volunta- 
 rily into these fetters of sin. Necessity is no plea, 
 when the will is the immediate cause of any action ; 
 men's hearts tell them they might rule their desires if 
 they would ; for tell a man of any dish which he 
 liketh, that there is poison in it, and he will not 
 meddle with it ; so tell him that death is. in that sin 
 which he is about to commit, and he will abstain if 
 he believe it be so ; if he believe it not, it is his vo- 
 luntary unbehef and atheism. 
 
 If the will would use that sovereignty it should, 
 and could at the first, we should be altogether freed 
 from this necessity. Men are not damned because 
 they cannot do better, because they will but do no 
 better ; if there were no will, there would be no hell ; 
 for men willingly submit to the rule and law of sin, 
 they plead for it, and like it so well, as they hate no- 
 thing so much as that which any way withstandeth 
 those lawless laws. 
 
 Those that think it their happiness to do what they 
 will, that they might be free, cross their own desires, 
 for this is the way to make them most perfect slaves. 
 When our will is the next immediate cause of sin, 
 and our consciences bear witness to us that it is so ; 
 then conscience is ready to take God^s part in ac- 
 cusing ourselves : our consciences tell us to our faces 
 that we might do more than we do to hinder sin, and 
 that when we sin, it is not through weakness, but out 
 of the wickedness of our nature. 
 
 Our consciences tell us that we sin not only wil- 
 lingly, but often with delight (so far forth as we are 
 not subdued by grace, or awed by something above 
 us), and that we esteem any restraint to be our misery. 
 
96 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 And where by grace the will is strengthened, so that 
 it yields not a full consent, yet a gracious soul is 
 humbled even for the sudden risings of corruption 
 that prevent deliberation. As here David, though 
 he withstood the risings of his heart, yet he was trou- 
 bled, that he had so vile a heart that v/ould rise up 
 against God, and therefore takes it down. Who is 
 there that hath not cause to be humbled, not only 
 for his corruption, but that he doth not resist with 
 that strength, nor labour to prevent it with that dili- 
 gence which his heart tells him he might ? 
 
 We cannot have too deep apprehensions of this 
 breeding sin, the mother and nurse of all abomina- 
 tions ; for the more we consider the height, the depth, 
 the breadth, and length of it, the more shall we be 
 humbled in ourselves, and magnify the height, the 
 depth, the breadth, and the length of God's mercy 
 in Christ, Eph. iii. 18. The favourers of nature are 
 always the enemies of grace ; this which some think 
 and speak so weakly and faintly of, is a worse enemy 
 to us than the devil himself; a more near, a more 
 restless, a more traitorous enemy, for by intelligence 
 with it the devil doth us all the hurt he doth, and by 
 it maintains forts in us against goodness. This is that 
 which either by discouragement or contrariety hinders 
 us from good : or else by deadness, tediousness, dis- 
 tractions, or corrupt aims hinders us in doing good : 
 this putteth us on to evil, and abuseth what is good 
 in us, or from us, to cover or colour sin ; and fur- 
 nishes us with reasons either to maintain what is evil, 
 or shifts to translate it upon false causes, or fences 
 to arm us against whatsoever shall oppose us in our 
 wicked ways : though it neither can nor will be good, 
 yet it would be thought to be so by others, and en- 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 97 
 
 forces a conceit upon itself that it is good. It impri- 
 • sons and keeps down all light that may discover it, 
 both within itself, and without itself, if it lie in its 
 power : it flatters itself, and would have all the world 
 flatter it too, which if it doth not, it frets ; especially 
 if it be once discovered and crossed : hence comes 
 all the plotting against goodness, that sin may reign 
 without control. Is it not a lamentable case that 
 man, who out of the very principles of nature cannot 
 but desire happiness and abhor misery, yet should be 
 in love with eternal misery in the causes of it, and 
 abhor happiness in the ways that lead unto it ? This 
 showeth us what a wonderful deordination and dis- 
 order is brought upon man's nature ; for every other 
 creature is naturally carried to that which is helpful 
 unto it, and shunneth that which is any way hurtful 
 and offensive ; only man is in love with his own bane, 
 and lights for those lusts that fight against his soul. 
 
 § IV. Our duty is, 1. To labour to see this sinful 
 disposition of ours, not only as it is discovered in the 
 Scriptures, but as it discovers itself in our own hearts; 
 this must be done by the light and teaching of God's 
 Spirit, who knows us and all the turnings and wind- 
 ings and byways of our souls, better than we know 
 ourselves. We must see it as the most odious and 
 loathsome thing in the world, making our natures 
 contrary to God's pure nature, and of all other duties 
 making us most indisposed to spiritual duties, where- 
 in we should have nearest communion with God ; be- 
 cause it seizeth on the very spirits of our minds. 
 
 2. We should look upon it as worse than any of 
 those filthy streams that come from it, nay, than all 
 the impure issues of our lives together ; there is more 
 
 H 
 
98 THE soul's CO^^FLICT. 
 
 fire in the furnace than in the sparkles ; there is more 
 poison in the root than in all the branches ; for if the 
 stream were stopped, and the branches cut off, and 
 the sparkles quenched, yet there would be a perpetual 
 supply ; as in good things, the cause is better than 
 the effect ; so in ill things the cause is worse. Every 
 fruit should make this poisonful root more hateful to 
 us, and the root should make us hate the fruit more, 
 as coming from so bad a root, as being worse in the 
 cause, than in itself; the affection is worse than the 
 action, which may be forced or counterfeited. We 
 cry out upon particular sins, but are not humbled as 
 we should be for our impure dispositions ; without the 
 sight of which there can be no sound repentance aris- 
 ing from the deep and thorough consideration of sin ; 
 no desire to be new moulded, without which we can 
 never enter into so holy a place as heaven ; no self- 
 denial till we see the best things in us are enmity 
 against God ; no high prizing of Christ, without whom 
 our natures, our persons, and our actions are abomi- 
 nable in God's sight ; nor any solid peace settled in 
 the soul ; which peace ariseth not from the ignorance 
 of our corruption, or compounding with it, but from 
 sight and hatred of it, and strength against it. 
 
 3. Consider the spiritualness and large extent of 
 the law of God, together with the curse annexed, 
 which forbids not only particular sins, but all the 
 kinds, degrees, occasions, and furtherances of sin in 
 the whole breadth and depth of it, and our very nature 
 itself so far as it is corrupted ; for want of which we 
 see many alive without the law, Rom. vii. 2. jovial 
 and merry from ignorance of their misery, who if they 
 did but once see their natures and lives in that glass, 
 it would take away that liveliness and courage from 
 them, and make them vile in their own eyes; men 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 99 
 
 usually look themselves in the laws of the state 
 wherein they live, and think themselves good enough, 
 if they are free from the danger of penal statutes ; this 
 glass discovers only foul spots, gross scandals, and 
 breakings out ; or else they judge of themselves by 
 parts of nature, or common grace, or by outward 
 conformity to religion, or else by that light they have 
 to guide themselves in the affairs of this life, by their 
 fair and civil carriage, &c. and thereupon live and 
 die without any sense of the power of godliness, which 
 begins in the right knowledge of ourselves, and ends 
 in the right' knowledge of God. The spiritualness and 
 purity of the law should teach us to consider the pu- 
 rity and holiness of God ; the bringing of our souls 
 into whose presence will make us to abhor ourselves, 
 with Job, in dust and ashes, Job xlii. 6. ; contraries 
 are best seen by setting one near the other; whilst 
 we look only on ourselves, and upon others amongst 
 whom we live, we think ourselves to be somebody. 
 It is an evidence of some sincerity wrought in the soul, 
 not to shun that light which may let us see the foul 
 corners of our hearts and lives. 
 
 4. The consideration of this hkewise should enforce 
 us to carry a double guard over our souls : David was 
 very watchful, yet we see here he was surprized un- 
 awares by the sudden rebellion of his heart ; we should 
 observe our hearts as governors do rebels and muti- 
 nous persons : observation awes the heart ; we see to 
 what an access sin groweth in those that deny them- 
 selves nothing, nor will be denied in any thing ; who 
 if they may do what they will, will do what they may ; 
 who turn liberty into hcense, and make all their abi- 
 lities and advantages to do good, contributary to the 
 commands of overruling and unruly lusts. 
 
 Were it not that God partly by his power suppress- 
 
<^"' 
 
 100 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 eth, and partly by his grace subdueth the disorders 
 of man's nature for the good of society, and the ga- 
 thering of a Church upon earth ; corruption would 
 swell to that excess, that it would overturn and con- 
 found all things together with itself. Although there 
 be a common corruption that cleaves to the nature 
 of all men in general, as men (as distrust in God, 
 self-love, a carnal and worldly disposition, &c.) yet 
 God so ordereth it, that in some there is an ebb and 
 decrease, in others (God justly leaving them to them- 
 selves) a flow and increase of sinfulness, even beyond 
 the bounds of ordinary corruption, whereby they be- 
 come worse than themselves, either like beasts in sen- 
 suality, or like devils in spiritual wickedness ; though 
 all be blind in spiritual things, yet some are more 
 blinded : though all be hard-hearted, yet some are 
 more hardened : though all be corrupt in evil courses, 
 yet some are more corrupted : and sink deeper into 
 rebellion than others. 
 
 Sometimes God suffers this corruption to break out 
 in civil m.en, yea, even in his own children, that they 
 may know themselves the better, and because some- 
 times corruption is weakened not only by smothering, 
 but by having a vent, whereupon grace stirs up in the 
 soul a fresh hatred and revenge against it ; and lets 
 us see a necessity of having whole Christ, not only 
 to pardon sin, but to purge and cleanse our sinful 
 natures. But yet that which is ill in itself, must not 
 be done for the good that comes by it by accident ; 
 this must be a comfort after our surprisals, not an 
 encouragement before. 
 
 5. And because the Divine nature, wrought in us 
 by divine truth, together with the Spirit of God, *is 
 the only counter-poison against all sin, and whatsoever 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 101 
 
 is contrary to God in us, therefore we should labour 
 that the truth of God may be grafted in our hearts, 
 that so all the powers of our souls may relish of it, 
 that there may be a sweet agreement betwixt the soul 
 and all things that are spiritual, that truth being en- 
 grafted in our hearts, we may be engrafted into Christ, 
 and grow up in him, ^nd put him on more and more, 
 and be changed into his likeness. Nothing in heaven 
 or earth will work out corruption, and change our dis- 
 positions, but the Spirit of Christ, clothing divine 
 truths, with a divine power to this purpose. 
 
 6. When corruption rises, pray it down, as Saint 
 Paul did, and to strengthen thy prayer, claim the 
 promise of the new covenant, that God would circum- 
 cise our hearts, and wash us with cleamvater, that 
 he would write his law in our hearts, and give us 
 his holy Spirit when we beg it ; and look upon Christ 
 as a ^wbXic fountain open for Judah and Jerusalem 
 to ivash in. Herein consists our comfort, 1. that 
 Christ hath all fulness for us, and that our nature is 
 perfect in him; 2. That Christ in our nature hath 
 satisfied divine justice, not only for the sin of our lives, 
 but for the sin of our nature. And, 3. that he will 
 never give over until by his Spirit he hath made our 
 nature holy and pure as his own, till he hath taken 
 away not only the reign, but the very life and being 
 of sin out of our hearts. 4. That to this end he leaves 
 his Spirit and truth in the church to the end of the 
 world, that the seed of the Spirit may subdue the seed 
 of the serpent in us, and that the Spirit may be a never 
 failing spring of all holy thoughts, desires, and en- 
 deavours in us, and dry up the contrary issue and 
 spiring of corrupt nature. 
 
 And Christians must remember when they are much 
 
102 THE soul's CONFLICr. 
 
 annoyed with their corruptions, that it is not their 
 particular case alone, but the condition of all God's 
 people, lest they be discouraged by looking on the 
 ugly deformed visage of old Adam : which afFrighteth 
 some so far, that it makes them think, No mans na- 
 ture is so vile as theirs ; which were well if it tended 
 to humihation only ; but Satan often abuseth it to- 
 wards discouragement and desperation. Many out 
 of a misconceit think that corruption is greatest when 
 they feel it most, whereas indeed, the less we see 
 it and lament it, the more it is. Sighs and groans of 
 the soul are like the pores of the body, out of whicli 
 in diseased persons sick humours break forth and so 
 become less. The more we see and grieve for pride, 
 which is an immediate issue of our corrupted nature, 
 the less it is, because we see it by a contrary grace ; the 
 more sight the more hatred, the more hatred of sin, 
 the more love of grace, and the more love the more life, 
 which the more hvely it is, the more it is sensible of the 
 contrary : upon every discovery and conflict corruption 
 loses some ground, and grace gains upon it. 
 
 CHAP. XIII. 
 
 Of Imagination, Sin of ity and Remedies for it, 
 
 § 1. A ND amongst all the facuUies of the soul most 
 JTjl, of the disquiet and unnecessary trouble of 
 our lives arises from the vanity and ill government of 
 that power of the soul which we call imagination and 
 opinion, bordering between the senses and our under- 
 standing ; which is nothing else but a shallow appre- 
 hension of good or evil taken from the senses : now 
 because outward good or evil things agree or disagree 
 to the senses, and the life of sense is in us before the 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. » 103 
 
 use of reason, and the delights of sense are present, 
 and pleasing, and suitable to our natures : thereupon 
 the imagination setteth a great price upon sensible 
 good things ; and the judgment itself since the fall, 
 until it hath a higher light and strength, yieldeth to 
 our imagination ; hence it comes to pass that the best 
 things, if they be attended with sensible inconveni- 
 ences, as want, disgrace in the world, and such like, 
 are misjudged for evil things ; and the very worst 
 things, if they be attended with respect in the world, 
 and sensible contentments, are imagined to be the 
 greatest good : which appears not so much in men's 
 words (because they are ashamed to discover their 
 hidden folly and atheism) but the Hves of people 
 speak as much, in that particular choice which they 
 make. Many there are who think it not only a vain 
 but a dangerous thing to serve God, and a base thing 
 to be awed with religious respects ; they count the 
 ways that God's people take, no better than madness, 
 and that course which God takes in bringing men to 
 heaven by a plain publishing of heavenly truths, to 
 be nothing but foolishness, and those people that re- 
 gard it, are esteemed, as the Pharisees esteemed them 
 that heard Christ, ignorant, base, and despicable per- 
 sons ; hence arise all those false prejudices against the 
 ways of holiness, as they in the Acts were shy in en- 
 tertaining the truth, because it was a way every where 
 spoken against, Acts xxviii. 22. The doctrine of the 
 cross hath the cross always following it, which ima- 
 gination counteth the most odious and bitter thing in 
 the world. 
 
 This imagination of ours is become the seat of va- 
 nity, and thereupon of vexation to us, because it ap- 
 prehends a greater happiness in outward good things 
 
104 t THE soul's conflict. 
 
 than there is, and a greater misery in outward evil 
 things than indeed there is ; and when experience 
 shows us that there is not that good in those things 
 which we imagine to be, but contrarily, we find much 
 evil in them which we never expected, hereupon the 
 soul cannot but be troubled. The life of many men, 
 and those not the meanest, is almost nothing else but 
 a fancy ; that which chiefly sets their wits a work, and 
 takes up most of their time, is how to please their 
 own imagination, which setteth up an excellency with- 
 in itself, in comparison of which it despiseth all true 
 excellency, and those things that are of most neces- 
 sary consequence indeed. Hence springs ambition, 
 and the vein of being great in the world; hence 
 comes an unmeasurable desire of abounding in those 
 things which the world esteems highly of, there is in 
 us naturally a competition and desire of being equal 
 or above others, in that which is generally thought to 
 make us happy and esteemed amongst men ; if we be 
 not the only men, yet we will be somebody in the 
 world, something we will have to be highly esteemed 
 for, wherein if we be crossed, we count it the great- 
 est misery that can befall us. 
 
 And which is worse, a corrupt desire of being great 
 in the opinion of others, creeps into the profession of 
 religion, if we live in those places wherein it brings 
 credit or gain ; men will sacrifice their very lives for 
 vain glory : it is an evidence a man lives more to 
 opinion and reputation of others, than to conscience, 
 when his grief is more for being disappointed of that 
 approbation which he expects from men, than for his 
 miscarriage towards God. It mars all in religion, 
 when we go about heavenly things with earthly affec- 
 tions, and seek not Christ in Christ, but the world. 
 
THE soul's conflict. 105 
 
 What is popery but an artificial frame of man's brain 
 to please men's imaginations by outward state and 
 pomp of ceremonies, like that golden image of Nebu- 
 chadnezzar, wherein he pleased himself so that to 
 have uniformity in worshipping the same, he com- 
 pelled all under pain of death to fall down before it, 
 Dan, iii. 6; this makes superstitious persons always 
 cruel, because superstitious devices are the brats of 
 our own imagination, which we strive for more than 
 for the purity of God's worship : hence it is likewise 
 that superstitious persons are restless, as the woman 
 of Samaria, in their own spirits, as having no bottom 
 but fancy instead of faith. 
 
 ^ II. Now the reason why imagination works so 
 upon the soul, is, because it stirs up the affections an- 
 swerable to the good or ill which it apprehends, and 
 our affections stir the humours of the body, so that 
 oftentimes both our souls and bodies are troubled 
 hereby. 
 
 Things work upon the soul in this order : 1. Some 
 object is presented. 2. Then it is apprehended by 
 imagination as good and pleasing, or as evil and hurt- 
 ful. 3. If good, the desire is carried to it with de- 
 light : if evil, it is rejected with distaste, and so our 
 affections are stirred up suitably to our apprehension 
 of the object. 4. Affections stir up the spirits. 5. 
 The spirits raise the humours, and so the whole man 
 becomes moved and oftentimes distempered ; this fall- 
 eth out by reason of the sympathy between the soul 
 and body, whereby what ofFendeth one redoundeth to 
 the hurt of the other. 
 
 And we see conceived troubles have the same effect 
 upon us, as true. Jacob was as much troubled with 
 
106 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 the imagination of his son's death, as if he had been 
 dead indeed ; imagination , though it be an empty 
 windy thing, yet it hath real effects. Superstitious 
 persons are as much troubled for neglecting any vo- 
 luntary service of man's invention, as if they had of- 
 fended against the direct commandment of God : thus 
 superstition breeds false fears, and false fear brings 
 true vexation ; it transforms God to an idol, imagining 
 him to be pleased with whatsoever pleases ourselves, 
 when as we take it ill that those who are under us 
 should take direction from themselves, and not from 
 us, in that which may content us, superstition is very 
 busy, but all in vain, in vain they worship me, Matt. 
 XV. 9, saith God ; and how can it choose but vex 
 and disquiet men, when they shall take a great deal 
 of pains in xmin, and which is worse, to displease most 
 in that wherein they think to please most. God 
 blasteth all devised service with one demand. Who 
 required these things at your hands? Isaiah i. 12. 
 It were better for us to ask ourselves this question 
 before-hand, Who required this ? Why do we trou- 
 ble ourselves about that which we shall have no 
 thank for ? We should not bring God down to our 
 own imaginations, but raise our imaginations up to 
 God. 
 
 Now imagination hurteth us, 1. By false represen- 
 tations. 2. By preventing reason, and so usurping a 
 censure of things, before our judgments try them, 
 whereas the office of imagination is to minister mat- 
 ter to our understanding to work upon, and not to 
 lead it, much less mislead it in any thing. 3. By 
 forging matter out of itself without ground, the ima- 
 ginary grievances of our lives are more than the real . 
 4. As it is an ill instrument of the understanding to 
 devise vanity and mischief. 
 
THE SOUL*S CONFLICT. 107 
 
 § III. The way to cure this malady in us, is, 1. To 
 labour to bring these risings of our souls into the obe- 
 dience of God's truth and Spirit ; for imagination of 
 itself, if ungoverned, is a wild and a ranging thing ^ 
 2 Cor. X. 5 ; it wrongs not only the frame of God's 
 work in us, setting the baser part of a man above the 
 higher, but it wrongs hkewise the work of God in the 
 creatures and every thing else, for it shapes things as 
 itself pleaseth, it maketh evil good, if it pleaseth the 
 senses; and good evil, if it be dangerous and dis- 
 tasteful to the outward man ; which cannot but breed 
 an unquiet and an unsettled soul. As if it were a 
 god, it can tell good and evil at its pleasure, it sets up 
 and pulls down the price of what it listeth : by reason 
 of the distemper of imagination, the life of many is 
 little else but a dream ; many good men are in a long 
 dream of misery, and many bad men in as long a 
 dream of happiness, till the time of awaking come, 
 and all because they are too much led by appear- 
 ances ; and as in a dream men are deluded with false 
 joys, and false fears ; so here, which cannot but breed 
 an unquiet and an unsettled soul ; therefore it is neces- 
 sary that God by his word and Spirit should erect a 
 government in our hearts to captivate and order this 
 licentious faculty. 
 
 2. Likewise it is good to present real things to the 
 soul, as the true riches, and true misery of a Chris- 
 tian, the true honour and dishonour, true beauty and 
 deformity, the true nobleness and debasement of the 
 soul; whatever is in the world, are but shadows of 
 things in comparison of those true realities which reli- 
 gion affords ; and why should we vex ourselves about 
 a vain shadow ? Psalm xxxix. 6. 
 
 The Holy Ghost to prevent further mischief by these 
 outward things, gives a dangerous report of them, 
 
108 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 calling them vanity, unrighteous mammon, Luke 
 xvi. 9, uncertain riches, thorns, yea nothiiig ; be- 
 cause though they be not so in themselves, yet, our 
 imagination overvaluing them, they prove so to us 
 upon trial : now knowledge that is bought by trial is 
 often dear bought, and therefore God would have us 
 prevent this by a right conceit of things beforehand, 
 lest trusting to vanity we vanish ourselves, and trust- 
 ing to nothing we become nothing ourselves, and 
 which is worse, worse than nothing. 
 
 3. Oppose serious consideration against vain ima- 
 gination, and because our imagination is prone to 
 raise false objects, and thereby false conceits, and dis- 
 courses in us ; our best way herein is to propound 
 true objects of the mind to work upon; as, 1. To 
 consider the greatness and goodness of Almighty God, 
 and his love to us in Christ. 2. The joys of heaven, 
 and the torments of hell. 3. The last and strict day 
 of account. 4. The vanity of all earthly things. 5. 
 The uncertainty of our hves, &c. From the medita- 
 tion of these truths, the soul will be prepared to have 
 right conceits of things, and to discourse upon true 
 grounds of them, and think with thyself, that if these 
 things be so indeed, then I must frame my hfe suita- 
 ble to these principles ; hence arise true affections in 
 the soul, true fear of God, true love and desire after 
 the best things, &c. The way to expel wind out 
 of our bodies, is to take some wholesome nourish- 
 ment, and the way to expel windy fancies from the 
 soul, is to feed upon serious truths. 
 
 4. Moreover, to the well ordering of this unnily 
 faculty, it is necessary that our nature itself should 
 be changed ; for as men are, so they imagine, as the 
 treasure of the heart is, Matt. xii. 35, such is that 
 
THE soul's conflict. 109 
 
 which comes from it ; an evil heart cannot think well : 
 before the heart be changed our judgment is depraved 
 in regard of our last end, we seek our happiness where 
 it is not to be found ; wickedness comes from the 
 wicked, 1 Sam. xxiv. 13, as the proverb is. If we 
 had as large and as quick apprehensions as Satan 
 himself, yet if the relish of our will and affections be 
 not changed, they will set the imagination awork, to 
 devise satisfaction to themselves. For there is a mu- 
 tual working and reflux betwixt the will and the ima- 
 gination ; the imagination stirs up the will, and as 
 the will is affected, so imagination worketh. 
 
 When the Law of God by the Spirit is so written 
 in our hearts, that the law and our hearts become 
 ao-reeable one to the other, then the soul is inclined 
 and made pliable to every good thought : when the 
 heart is once taught of God to love, it is the nature 
 of this sweet affection, as the Apostle saith, to think 
 no evil, 1 Cor. xiii. 5, either of God or man, and not 
 only so, but it carries the bent of the whole soul with 
 it to good, so that we love God not only with all our 
 heart, but loith all our mind, Matt. xxii. 37, that is, 
 both with our understanding and imagination. Love 
 is an affection full of inventions, and sets the wit 
 awork to devise good things ; therefore our chief care 
 should be, that our hearts may be circumcised and 
 purified so, as they may be filled with the love of God, 
 and then we shall find this duty not only easy but 
 dehghtful unto us. The Prophet healed the waters 
 by casting salt into the spring, 2 Kings ii. 20, so the 
 seasoning of the spring of our actions seasons all. 
 And indeed what can be expected from man whilst he 
 is vanity but vain imaginations ? What can we look for 
 from a viper but poison ? Isaiah lix. 5. A man na- 
 
110 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 turally is either weaving spiders' luebs, or hatching 
 cockatrices' eggs, that is, his heart is exercised either 
 in vanity or mischief, for not only the frame of the 
 heart, but what the heart frameth is evil continually. 
 A wicked man that is besotted with false conceits, will 
 admit of no good thoughts to enter, Gen. vi. 5. 
 
 5. Even when we are good and devise good things, 
 yet there is still some sickness of fancy remaining in 
 the best of us, whereby we work trouble to ourselves, 
 and therefore it is necessary we should labour to re- 
 strain and limit our fancy, and stop these waters at 
 the beginning, giving no not the least way thereunto. 
 If it begins to grow wanton, tame the wildness of it 
 by fastening it to the cross of Christ, whom we have 
 pierced with our sins, Zach. xii. 10, and amongst 
 other, with these sins of our spirits, who hath redeemed 
 us from our vain thoughts and conversations, 1 Pet. 
 i. 18, set before it the consideration of the wrath of 
 God, of death, and judgment, and the woful estate 
 of the damned, &c. and take it not off till thy heart 
 be taken off from straying from God ; when it begins 
 once to run out to impertinencies, confine it to some 
 certain thing, and then upon examination we shall 
 find it bring home some honey with it ; otherwise it 
 will bring us nothing but a sting from the bitter re- 
 membrance of our former mispent thoughts and time, 
 which we should redeem and fill up, with things that 
 most belong to our peace, Luke xix. 47. Idleness 
 is the hour of temptation, wherein Satan joins with 
 our imagination, and sets it about his own work, to 
 grind his grease, for the soul as a mill either grinds 
 that which is put into it, or else works upon itself. 
 Imagination is the first wheel of the soul, and if that 
 move amiss, it stirs all the inferior wheels amiss with 
 
THE soul's conflict. Ill 
 
 it ; it stirs itself, and other powers of the soul are stirred 
 by its motion ; and therefore the well ordering of this 
 is of the greater consequence ; for as the imagination 
 conceiveth, so usually the judgment concludeth, the 
 will chooseth, the affections are carried, and the mem- 
 bers execute. 
 
 If it break loose (as it will soon run riot) yet give no 
 consent of the will to it ; though it hath defiled the 
 memory, yet let it not defile the will ; though it be the 
 first horn of the soul, yet let it not, as Reuben, ascend 
 unto the father's bed^ that is, our will, and defile that 
 which should be kept pure for the Spirit of Christ ; 
 resolve to act nothing upon it, but cross it before it 
 moves to the execution and practice of any thing : as 
 in sickness, many times we imagine (by reason of the . 
 corruption of our taste) physic to be ill for us, and 
 those meats which nourish the disease to be good, 
 yet care of health makes us cross our own conceits, 
 and take that which fancy abhors : so if we would 
 preserve sound spirits, we must conclude against 
 groundless imagination, and resolve that whatsoever 
 it suggests cannot be so, because it crosses the grounds 
 both of religion and reason : and when we find ima- 
 gination to deceive us in sensible things, as melan- 
 choly persons are subject to mistake, we may well 
 gather, that it will much more deceive us in our spi- 
 ritual conditiQn ; and indeed such is the incoherence, 
 impertinency, and unreasonableness of imagination, 
 that men are oft ashamed and angry with themselves 
 afterwards for giving the least way to such thoughts ; 
 and it is good to chastise the soul for the same, that 
 it may be more wary for time to come ; whilst men 
 are led with imagination, they work not according to 
 right rules prescribed to men, but as other baser 
 
112 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 creatures, in whom phantasy is the chief ruHng power, 
 and therefore those whose will is guided by their fan- 
 cies hve more hke beasts than men. 
 
 We allow a horse to prance and skip in a pasture, 
 which if he doth when he is once backed by the rider, 
 we count him an unruly and an unbroken jade : so 
 howsoever in other creatures we allow liberty of fancy, 
 yet we allow it not in man to frisk and rove at its 
 pleasure, because in him it is to be bridled with reason. 
 
 6. Especially take heed of those cursed imagina- 
 tions out of which, as of mother roots, others spring 
 forth ; as questioning God's providence, and care of his 
 children, his justice, his disregarding of what is done 
 here below, &c. thoughts of putting off our amend- 
 ment for time to come, and so blessing ourselves in 
 any evil way ; thoughts against the necessity of exact 
 and circumspect lualking with God, &c. Eph, v. 15. 
 When these and such hke principles of Satan's and the 
 
 flesh's divinity take place in our hearts, they block 
 up the soul against the entrance of soul-saving truths, 
 and taint our whole conversation, which is either good 
 or evil, as the principles are by which we are guided 
 and as our imagination is, which lets in all to the soul.: 
 The Jews in Jeremiah's time were forestalled with 
 vain imaginations against sound repentance, and 
 therefore his counsel is, wash thine heart, Jerusa- 
 lem, how long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee ? 
 Jer. iv. 14. 
 
 7. Fancy will the better be kept within its due 
 bounds, if we consider the principal use thereof; sense 
 and imagination is properly to judge what is comfort- 
 able or uncomfortable, what is pleasing or displeasing 
 to the outward man, not what is morally or spiritually 
 good or ill, and thus far by the laws of nature and 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 113 
 
 civility we are bound to give fancy contentment both 
 in ourselves and others, as not to speak or do any 
 thing uncomely, which may occasion a loathing or 
 distaste in our converse with men : and it is a matter 
 of conscience to make our lives as comfortable as may 
 be ; as we are bound to love, so we are bound to use 
 all helps that may make us lovely, and endear us into 
 tlie good affections of others : as we are bound to 
 give no offence to the conscience of another, so to no 
 power or faculty either of the outward or inward man 
 of another : some are taken off in their affection by a 
 fancy, whereof they can give but little reason ; and 
 some are more careless in giving offence in this kind, 
 tlian stands with that Christian circumspection and 
 mutual respect which we owe one to another; the 
 Apostle's rule is of large extent. Whatsoever things are 
 not only time, and honest, and just, but whatsoever 
 things are lovely, and of good report, &c. think of 
 these things, Phil. iv. 8. Yet our main care should 
 be to manifest ourselves rather to men's consciences 
 than to their imaginations. 
 
 8. It should be our wisdom likewise to place our- 
 selves in the best conveniency of all outward helps 
 which may have a kind working upon our fancy; 
 and to take heed of the contrary, as time, place, and 
 objects, &c. There be good hours and good messen- 
 gers of God's sending, golden opportunities wherein 
 God uses to give a meeting to his children, and breathes 
 good thoughts into them. Even the wisest and holi- 
 est men, as David and Solomon, &c., had no further 
 safety than they were careful of well-using all good 
 advantages, and sequestering themselves from such 
 objects as had a working power upon them ; by suf- 
 fering their souls to be led by their fancies, and their 
 
114 THE soul's COIUFLICT. 
 
 hearts to run after their eyes, they betrayed and robbed 
 themselves of much grace and comfort, thereupon So- 
 lomon cries out with grief and shame from his own 
 experience. Vanity of vanities, &c., Eccles. i. 2. 
 Fancy will take fire before we be aware. Little things 
 are seeds of great matters ; Job knew this, and there- 
 fore made a covenant with his eyes, Job xxxi. 1 : 
 but a fool's eyes are in the corners of the earth, 
 saith Solomon, Prov, xvii. 24. 
 
 Sometimes the ministering of some excellent thought 
 from what we hear or see, proves a great advantage of 
 spiritual good to the soul : whilst Saint Austin out of 
 curiosity delighted to hear the eloquence of Saint Am- 
 brose, he was taken with the matter itself, sweetly 
 sliding together with the words into his heart. Of 
 later times, whilst Galeaceus Caracciolus an Italian 
 marquis, and nephew to Pope Paul V. was hearing 
 Peter Martyr reading upon 1 Corinthians, and show- 
 ing the deceivableness of man's judgment in spiritual 
 things, and the efficacy of divine truth in those that 
 belong unto God, and further using a similitude to this 
 purpose; '* If a man be walking afar off, and see 
 people dancing together, and hear no noise of the 
 music, he judges them fools and out of their wits ; but 
 when he comes nearer and hears the music, and sees 
 that every motion is exactly done by art ; now he 
 changes his mind, and is so taken up with the sweet 
 agreement of the gesture, and the music, that he is 
 not only delighted therewith, but desirous to join him- 
 self in the number : so it falls out, saith he, with 
 men; whilst they look upon the outward carriage 
 and conversation of God's people, and see it dif- 
 fering from others, they think them fools ; but when 
 they look more narrowly into their courses, and see a 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 115 
 
 gracious harmony betwixt their lives and the Word 
 of God, then they begin to be in love with the beauty 
 of holiness^ and join in conformity of holy obedience 
 with those they scorned before/* This similitude 
 wrought so with this nobleman, that he began from 
 that time forward to set his mind to the study of hea- 
 venly things. 
 
 One seasonable truth falling upon a prepared heart, 
 hath oftentimes a sweet and strong operation ; Luther 
 confesseth that having heard a grave divine Staupi- 
 cius say, that that is kind repentance which begins 
 from the love of God, ever after that time the prac- 
 tice of repentance was sweeter to him. This speech 
 of his likewise took well with Luther, that in doubts 
 of predestination we should begin from the wounds 
 of Christ, that is, from the sense of God's love to us 
 in Christ, we should arise to the grace given us in 
 election before the world was, 2 Tim. i. 9. 
 
 The putting of lively colours upon common truths 
 hath oft so strong working both upon the fancy, and 
 our will and affections : the spirit is refreshed with 
 fresh things, or old truths refreshed ; this made the 
 preacher seek to find out pleasing and acceptable 
 words, Eccl. xii. 10 ; and our Saviour Christ's man- 
 ner of teaching was by a lively representation to men's 
 fancies, to teach them heavenly truths in an earthly 
 sensible manner ; and indeed what do we see or hear 
 but will yield matter to a holy heart to raise itself 
 higher ? 
 
 We should make our fancy serviceable to us in spi- 
 ritual things, and take advantage by any pleasure, 
 or profit, or honour which it presents our thoughts 
 withal, to think thus with ourselves, What is this to 
 the true honour, and to those enduring pleasures, &c. 
 
116 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 And seeing God hath condescended to represent hea- 
 venly things to us under earthly terms, we should fol- 
 low God's dealing herein : God represents heaven to 
 us under the term of a banquet, and of a kingdom, 
 &c. Luke X. 32 ; our union with Christ under the 
 term of a marriage, yea, Christ himself, under the 
 name of whatsoever is lovely or comfortable in hea- 
 ven or earth. So the Lord sets out hell to us by 
 whatsoever is terrible or tormenting. Here is a large 
 field for our imagination to walk in, not only without 
 hurt, but with a great deal of spiritual gain ; if the 
 wrath of a king be as the roaring of a lion, what is 
 the wrath of the King of kings ? If fire be so terri- 
 ble, what is hell fire ? If a dark dungeon be so loath- 
 some, what is that eternal dungeon of darkness ? If 
 a feast be so pleasing, what is the continual feast of 
 a good conscience ? Prov. xxv. 15. If the meeting 
 of friends be so comfortable, what will our meeting 
 together in heaven be ? The Scripture by such like 
 terms would help our faith and fancy both at once ; 
 a sanctified fancy will make every creature a ladder 
 to heaven. And because childhood and youth are 
 ages of fancy, therefore it is a good way to instil into 
 the hearts of children betimes, the loving of good, 
 and the shunning of evil, by such like representations 
 as agree with their fancies, as to hate hell under the 
 representation of fire and darkness, &c. Whilst the 
 soul is joined with the body, it hath not only a neces- 
 sary but a holy use of imagination, and of sensible 
 things whereupon our imagination worketh ; what is 
 the use of the sacraments, but to help our souls by 
 our senses, and our faith by imagination ? as the soul 
 receives much hurt from imagination, so it may have 
 much good thereby. 
 
THE SOUL*S CONFLICT. 117 
 
 But yet it ought not to invent or devise what is 
 good and true in religion, here fancy must yield to 
 faith, and faith to divine revelation; the things we 
 believe are such, as neither eye hath seen, nor ear 
 ^earc?, neither came into the heart of man, 1 Cor. ii. 9, 
 by imagination stirred up from any thing which we 
 have seen or heard ; they are above not only imagi- 
 nation, but reason itself, in men and angels : but after 
 God hath revealed spiritual truths, and faith hath ap- 
 prehended them, then imagination hath use while the 
 soul is joined with the body, to colour divine truths, 
 and make lightsome what faith believes ; for instance, 
 it doth not devise either heaven or hell, but when 
 God hath revealed them to us ; our fancy hath a fit- 
 ness of enlarging our conceits of them, even by re- 
 semblance from things in nature, and that without 
 danger ; because the joys of heaven, and the torments 
 of hell are so great, that all the representations which 
 nature affords us, fall short of them. 
 
 Imagination hath likewise some use in religion, by 
 putting cases to the soul, as when we are tempted to 
 any unruly action, we should think with ourselves. 
 What would I do if some holy grave person whom I 
 much reverence should behold me ? Whereupon the 
 soul may easily ascend higher ; God sees me, and my 
 own conscience is ready to witness against me, &c. 
 
 It helps us also in taking benefit by the example 
 of other men ; good things are best learned by others 
 expressing of them to our view ; the very sight often 
 (nay, the very thought) of a good man doth good, as 
 representing to our souls some good thing which we 
 afiect ; which makes histories and the lively charac- 
 ters and expressions of virtues and vices useful to us. 
 The sight, yea, the very reading of the suffering of 
 
118 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 the martyrs hath wrought such a hatred of that per- 
 secuting church, as hath done marvellous good ; the 
 sight of justice executed upon malefactors, works a 
 greater hatred of sin in men than naked precepts can 
 do ; so outward pomp and state in the world, doth 
 further that awful respect due to authority, &c. 
 
 Lastly, It would much avail for the well ordering 
 of our thoughts, to set our souls in order every morn- 
 ing, and to strengthen and perfume our spirits with 
 some gracious meditations, especially of the chief end 
 and scope wherefore we live here, and how every 
 thing we do, or befalls us, may be reduced and or- 
 dered to further the main. The end of a Christian is 
 glorious, and the oft thoughts of it will raise and en- 
 large the soul, and set it on work to study how to 
 make all things serviceable thereunto. It is a thing 
 to be lamented that a Christian born for heaven, hav- 
 ing the price of his high calling set before him, and 
 matters of that weight and excellency to exercise his 
 heart upon, should be taken up with trifles, and fill 
 both his head and heart with vanity and nothing, as 
 all earthly things will prove ere long ; and yet if 
 many men's thoughts and discourses were distilled, 
 they are so frothy that they would hardly yield one 
 drop of true comfort. 
 
 § IV. Oh but, say some, thoughts and imaginations 
 are free, and we shall not be accountable for them. 
 
 Tliis is a false plea, for God hath a sovereignty 
 over the whole soul, and his law binds the whole in- 
 ward and outward man ; as we desire our whole man 
 should be saved by Christ, so we must yield up the 
 whole man to be governed by him ; and it is the 
 effect of the dispensation of the Gospel, accompanied 
 
THE soul's conflict. 119 
 
 with the Spirit, to captivate whatsoever is in man 
 unto Christ, and to bring down all high towering 
 imaginations, 2 Cor. x. 5, that exalt themselves 
 against God's Spirit. There is a divinity in the word 
 of God powerfully unfolded, which will convince our 
 souls of the sinfulness of natural imaginations, as we 
 see in the idiot. Cor, 14, who, seeing himself laid open 
 before himself, cried out, that God was in the speaker, 
 I Cor. xiv. 25. 
 
 There ought to be in man a conformity to the truth 
 and goodness of things, or else, 1. We shall wrong 
 our own souls with false apprehensions : and 2. the 
 creature, by putting a fashion upon it otherwise than 
 God hath made : and 3. we shall wrong God himself 
 the author of goodness, who cannot have his true 
 glory but from a right apprehension of things as they 
 are ; what a wrong is it to men when we shall take 
 up false prejudices against them without ground ; 
 and so suffer our conceits to be envenomed against 
 them by unjust suspicions, and by this* means de- 
 prive ourselves of all that good which we might re- 
 ceive by them ? for our nature is apt to judge, and 
 accept of things as the persons are, and not of per- 
 sons according to the things themselves : this faculty 
 exercises a tyranny in the soul, setting up and pull- 
 ing down whom it will. Job judged his friends alto- 
 gether vain, Job xxvii. 12 ; because they went upon 
 a vain imagination and discourse, judging him to be 
 a hypocrite which could not but add much to his af- 
 fliction : when men take a toy in their head against 
 a person or place, they are ready to reason as he did, 
 Can any good come out of Nazareth ? John vi. 46. 
 
 It is an indignity for men to be led with surmises 
 and probabilities, and so to pass a rash judgment 
 
120 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 upon persons and things : oftentimes falsehood hath 
 a fairer gloss of probability than truth ; and vices go 
 masked under the appearance of virtue, whereupon 
 seeming likeness breeds a mistake of one thing for 
 another; and Satan oftentimes casts a mist before 
 our imagination, that so we might have a misshapen 
 conceit of things ; by a spirit of illusion he makes 
 worldly things appear bigger to us, and spiritual things 
 less than indeed they are ; and so by sophisticating 
 of things our affections come to be misled. Imagina- 
 tion is the womb, and Satan the father of all monstrous 
 conceptions and disordered lusts, which are well called 
 deceitful lusts, Eph. iv. 22 ; and lusts of ignorance 
 1 Tim. vi. 9, foolish and noisome lusts, because they 
 both spring from error and folly, and lead unto it. 
 
 We see even in religion itself, how the world, toge- 
 ther with the help of the God of the world, is led 
 away, if not to worship images, yet to worship the 
 image of their own fancy ; and where the truth is most 
 professed, yet people are prone to fancy to themselves 
 such a breadth of religion, as will altogether leave 
 them comfortless, when things shall appear in their 
 true colours ; they will conceit to embrace truth with- 
 out hatred of the world, and Christ without his cross, 
 and a godly life without persecutions, they would pull 
 a rose without pricks ; which though it may stand 
 with their own base ends for a while, yet will not hold 
 out in times of change when sickness of body and 
 trouble of mind shall come ; empty conceits are too 
 weak to encounter with real griefs. 
 
 Some think orthodox and right opinions to be a 
 plea for a loose life, whereas there is no ill course of 
 life but springs from some false opinion. God will 
 not only call us to an account how we have believedy 
 
THE soul's conflict. 12l 
 
 disputed, and reasoned, &c. but how we have Hved. 
 Our care therefore should be to build our profession 
 not on seeming appearances, but upon sound grounds, 
 that the gates of hell cannot prevail against. The 
 hearts of many are so vain, that they delight to be 
 blown up with flattery, because they would have their 
 imaginations pleased (yea, even when they cannot 
 but know themselves abused) and are grieved to have 
 their windy bladder pricked, and so to be put out of 
 their conceited happiness. Others out of a tedious- 
 ness in serious and settled thoughts entertain every 
 thing as it is offered to them at the first blush, and 
 suffer their imaginations to carry them presently there- 
 unto without further judging of it : the will naturally 
 loves variety and change, and our imagination doth 
 it service herein, as not dehghting to fix long upon 
 any thing ; hereupon men are contented both in reh- 
 gion, and in common life to be misled with prejudices 
 upon shallow grounds : whence it is that the best 
 things and persons suffer much in the world, the 
 power and practice of religion is hated under odious 
 names, and so condemned before it is understood ; 
 whence we see a necessity of getting spiritual eye-salve, 
 for without true knowledge the heart cannot he good, 
 Prov. xix. 2. 
 
 It is just with God that those who take liberty in 
 their thoughts should be given up to their own ima- 
 ginations, to delight in them, and to be out of conceit 
 with the best things, and so to reap the fruit of their 
 own ways. Nay, even the best of God's people, if 
 they take liberty herein, God will let loose their ima- 
 gination upon themselves, and suffer them to be in- 
 tangled and vexed with their own hearts ; those that 
 give way to their imaginations, show what their ac- 
 
122 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 tions should be, if they dared ; for if they forbear do- 
 ing evil out of conscience, they should as well forbear 
 imagining evil ; for both are alike open to God and 
 hateful to him ; and therefore oft where there is no 
 conscience of the thought, God gives men up to the 
 deed. The greatest, and hardest work of a Christian 
 is least in sight, which is the well ordering of his heart ; 
 some buildings have most workmanship under ground ; 
 it is our spirits that God who is a spirit, John iv. 24, 
 hath most communion withal ; and the less freedom 
 we take to sin here, the more argument of our since- 
 rity, because there is no laws to bind the inner man 
 but the law of the Spirit of grace, whereby we are a 
 law to ourselves. A good Christian begins his repen- 
 tance where his sin begins, in his thoughts, which are 
 the next issue of his heart. God counts it an honour 
 when we regard his all-seeing eye so much, as that 
 we will not take liberty to ourselves in that which is 
 offensive to him, no, not in our hearts, wherein no 
 creature can hinder us ; it is an argument that the 
 Spirit hath set up a kingdom and order in our hearts, 
 when our spirits rise within us against any thing that 
 lifts itself up against goodness. 
 
 § V. Many flatter themselves, from an impossibility 
 of ruling their imaginations, and are ready to lay all 
 upon infirmity and natural weakness, &c. 
 
 But such must know that if we be sound Christians, 
 the Spirit of God will enable us to do all things 
 (Evangelical) that we are called unto, if we give way 
 without check to the motions thereof; where the Spi- 
 rit is, it is such a hght as discovers not only dunghills, 
 but motes themselves, even light and flying imagina- 
 ions, and abaseth the soul for them, and by degrees 
 
THE soul's conflict. 123 
 
 purgeth them out ; and if they press (as they are as 
 busy as flies in summer) yet a good heart will not own 
 them, nor allow himself in them, but casts them off, 
 as hot water doth the scum, or as the stomach doth 
 that which is noisome unto it, they find not that en- 
 tertainment here which they have in carnal hearts, 
 where the scum soaks in ; which are stews of unclean 
 thoughts, shambles of cruel and bloody thoughts, 
 exchanges and shops of vain thoughts, a very forge 
 and mint of false politic, and undermining thoughts, 
 yea, often a little hell of confused and black imagina- 
 tions. There is nothing that more moveth a godly 
 man to renew his interest every day in the perfect 
 righteousness and obedience of his Saviour, than these 
 sinful stirrings of his soul, when he finds something in 
 himself always enticing and drawing away his heart 
 from God, and intermingling itself with his best per- 
 formances. Even good thoughts are troublesome if 
 they come unseasonably, and weaken our exact per 
 formance of duty. 
 
 § VI. But here some misconceits must be taken 
 heed of. 
 
 1 . As we must take heed that we account not our 
 imaginations to be religion ; so we must not account 
 true religion, and the power of godliness to be a mat- 
 ter of imagination only ; as if holy men troubled them- 
 selves more than needs, when they stand upon reli- 
 gion and conscience, seeking to approve themselves 
 to God in all things, 1 Thes. v. 12, and endeavouring 
 so far as frailty will permit, to avoid all appearances 
 of evil, 1 Thes. v. 22. Many men are so serious in 
 vanities, and real in trifles, that they count all, which 
 dote not upon such outward excellencies as they do. 
 
124 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 because the Spirit of God hath revealed to them things 
 of a higher nature, to be fantastic and humorous 
 people, and so impute the work of the Spirit to the 
 flesh, God's work to Satan, which comes near unto 
 blasphemy : they imagine good men to be led with 
 vain conceits, but good men know them to be so led. 
 Not only Saint Paul, but Christ himself, were counted 
 beside themselves. Acts xxvi. 24, when they were 
 earnest for God and the souls of his people. But 
 there is enough in rehgion to bear up the soul against 
 all imputations laid upon it : the true children of wis- 
 dom are always able to justify their mother. Matt, 
 xi. 19, and the conscionable practice of holy duties, 
 is founded upon such solid grounds as shall hold out 
 when heaven and earth shall vanish. 
 
 2. We must know that as there is great danger in 
 false conceits of the way to heaven, when we make it 
 broader than it is, for by this means we are like men 
 going over a bridge, who think it broader than it is, 
 but being deceived by some shadow, sink down, and 
 are suddenly drowned ; so men mistaking the straight 
 way to life, and trusting to the shadow of their own 
 imagination, fall into the bottomless pit of hell before 
 they are aware. In like manner the danger is great 
 in making the way to heaven narrower than indeed it 
 is by weak and superstitious imaginations, making 
 more sins than God hath made. The wise mans 
 counsel is that we should not make ourselves over- 
 wicked, not he foolisher than we are, Eccl. vii. 17, 
 by devising more sins in our imagination than we are 
 guilty of. 
 
 It is good in this respect, to know our Christian 
 liberty, which being one of the fruits of Christ's death, 
 we cannot neglect the same, without much wrong not 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 125 
 
 only to ourselves, but to the rich bounty and good- 
 ness of God. So that the due rules of limitation be 
 observed, from authority, piety, sobriety, needless 
 offence of others, &c. we may with better leave use 
 all those comforts which God hath given to refresh us 
 in the way to heaven, than refuse them ; the care of 
 the outward man binds conscience so far, as that we 
 should neglect nothing which may help us in a cheer- 
 ful serving of God, in our places, and tend to the due 
 honour of our bodies, which are the temples of the 
 holy Ghost, 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17, and companions with 
 our souls in all performances. So that under this 
 pretence we take not too much liberty to satisfy the 
 lusts of the body. Intemperate use of the creatures 
 is the nurse of all passions : because our spirits, which 
 are the souFs instruments, are hereby inflamed and 
 disturbed ; it is no wonder to see an intemperate man 
 transported into any passion. 
 
 3. Some out of their high and airy imaginations 
 (and out of their iron and flinty philosophy) will 
 needs think outward good and ill, together with the 
 affections of grief and delight stirred up thereby to 
 be but opinions and conceits of good and evil only, 
 not true and really so founded in nature, but taken 
 up of ourselves : but though our fancy be ready to 
 conceit a greater hurt in outward evils than indeed 
 there is, as in jwverty , pain of body, death of friends, 
 &c., yet we must not deny them to be evils : that 
 wormwood is bitter, it is not a conceit only, but the 
 nature of the thing itself, yet to abstain from it alto- 
 gether for the bitterness thereof is a hurtful conceit. 
 That honey is sweet, it is not a conceit only, but the 
 natural quality of it is so ; yet out of a taste of the 
 sweetness, to think we cannot take too much of it, is 
 
126 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 a misconceit paid home with loathsome bitterness. 
 Outward good and outward evil, and the affections 
 of delight and sorrow rising thence, are naturally so, 
 and depend not upon our opinion. This were to 
 offer violence to nature, and to take man out of man, 
 as if he were not flesh but steel ; universal experience, 
 from the sensibleness of our nature in any outward 
 grievance, is sufficient to damn this conceit. 
 
 The way to comfort a man in grief, is not to tell 
 him that it is only a conceit of evil, and no evil in- 
 deed that he suffers ; this kind of learning will not 
 down with him, as being contrary to his present feel- 
 ing ; but the way is, to yield unto him that there is 
 cause of grieving, though not of over grieving, and to 
 show him grounds of comfort stronger than the grief 
 he suffers. We should weigh the degrees of evil in a 
 right balance, and not suffer fancy to make them 
 greater than they are ; so as that for obtaining the 
 greatest outward good, or avoiding the greatest out- 
 ward ill of suffering, we should give way to the least 
 evil of sin. This is but a policy of the flesh to take 
 away the sensibleness of evil, that so those checks of 
 conscience and repentance for sin, which is oft occa- 
 sioned thereby, might be taken away ; that so men 
 may go on enjoying a stupid happiness, never laying 
 any thing to heart, nor afflicting their souls, until 
 their consciences awaken in the place of the damned, 
 and then they feel that grief return upon them for 
 ever, which they laboured to put away when it might 
 have been seasonable to them. 
 
 § VII. I have stood the longer upon this, because 
 Satan and his instruments by bewitching the imagi- 
 nation with false appearances, misleadeth not only 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 127 
 
 the world, but troubleth the peace of men taken out 
 of the world, whose estate is laid up safe in Christ, 
 who, notwithstanding, pass their few days here in an 
 uncomfortable wearisome, and unnecessary sadness 
 of spirit, being kept in ignorance of their happy con- 
 dition by Satan's juggling and their own mistakes, 
 and so come to heaven before they are aware. Some 
 again pass their days in a golden dream, and drop 
 into hell before they think of it ; but it is far better 
 to dream of ill, and when we awake to find it but a 
 dream, than to dream of some great good, and when 
 we awake to find the contrary. 
 
 As the distemper of the fancy disturbing the act of 
 reason, oftentimes breeds madness in regard of civil 
 conversation ; so it breeds likewise spiritual madness, 
 carrying men to those things, which if they were in 
 their right wits they would utterly abhor, therefore 
 we cannot have too much care upon what we fix our 
 thoughts ; and what a glorious discovery is there of 
 the excellencies of rehgion that would even ravish an 
 angel, which may raise up, exercise, and fill our 
 hearts ? we see our fancy hath so great a force in na- 
 tural conceptions, that it oft sets a mark and impres- 
 sion upon that which is conceived in the womb. So 
 likewise strong and holy conceits of things, having a 
 divine virtue accompanying of them, transform the 
 soul, and breed spiritual impressions answerable to 
 our spiritual apprehensions. It would prevent many 
 crosses, if we would conceive of things as they are ; 
 when trouble of mind, or sickness of body, and death 
 itself Cometh, what will remain of all that greatness 
 which filled our fancies before ? then we can judge 
 soberly, and speak gravely of things. The best way 
 of happiness, is not to multiply honours or riches, &c. 
 
128 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 but to cure our conceits of things, and then we can- 
 not be very much cast down with any thing that be- 
 falls us here. 
 
 Therefore when any thing is presented to our souls, 
 which we see is ready to work upon us, we should 
 ask of ourselves upon what ground we entertain such 
 a conceit, whether we shall have the same judgment 
 after we have yielded to it as now we have ? and whe- 
 ther we will have the same judgment of it in sickness 
 and death, and at the day of reckoning as we have 
 for the present ? That which is of itself evil, is always 
 so at one time as well as another ; if the time will 
 come, when we shall think those things to be vain, 
 which now we are so eagerly set upon, as if there 
 were some great good in them ; why should we not 
 think so of them now, when as the reforming of our 
 judgment may do us good : rather than to be led on 
 with a pleasing error until that time, wherein the sight 
 of our error will fill our hearts with horror and shame, 
 without hope of ever changing our condition ? 
 
 Here therefore is a special use of these soliloquies, 
 to awake the soul, and to stir up reason cast asleep 
 by Satan's charms, that so scattering the clouds 
 through which things seem otherwise than they are, 
 we may discern and judge of things according to their 
 true and constant nature. Demand of thy soul. Shall 
 I always be of this mind ? Will not the time come 
 when this will prove bitterness in the end ? Shall I 
 redeem a short contentment with lasting sorrow ? Is 
 my judge of my mind ? Will not a time come when 
 all things shall appear as they are ? Is this according 
 to the rule, &c. ? 
 
 To conclude therefore, whereas there be divers 
 principles of men's actions, as 1. Natural inclination ^ 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 129 
 
 inclining us to some courses more than others : 2. 
 Custom, which is another nature in us : 3. Imagi- 
 nation, apprehending things upon shallow grounds ; 
 from whence springs affectation, whereby we desire 
 glory in things above our own strength and measure, 
 and make show of that, the truth whereof is wanting 
 in us. 4. True judgment, discerning the true reasons 
 of things. 5. Faith, which is a spiritual principle 
 planted in the soul, apprehending things above rea- 
 son, and raising us up to conceive of all things as 
 God hath discovered them. Now a sound Christian 
 should not be lightly led with those first common 
 grounds of natural inclination, custom, opinion, &c. 
 but by judgment enhghtened, advanced, and guided 
 by faith. And we must take heed we suffer not 
 things to pass suddenly from imagination to affec- 
 tion, without asking advice of our judgment, and 
 faith in the way, whose office is to weigh things in 
 God's balance, and thereupon to accept or refuse 
 them. 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 
 Of Help by others. Of true Comforters, and their 
 Graces. Method. Ill Success. 
 
 § I. T3UT because we are subject to favour and 
 JD flatter ourselves, it is wisdom to take the 
 benefit of a second self, that is, a well chosen friend 
 living or dead, (books I mean) which will speak truly 
 without flattery of our estates. A friend is made 
 for the time of adversity, Prov. xvii. 17; and two 
 are better than one ; for by this means our troubles 
 are divided, and so more easily borne. The very 
 presence of a true-hearted friend yields often ease to 
 our grief : of all friends, those that by office are to 
 
130 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 speak a word to a weary soul, are most to be re- 
 garded, as speaking to us in Christ's stead. Often- 
 times, especially in our own case, we are blinded and 
 benighted with passion, and then the judgment of a 
 jfriend is clearer. Loving friends have a threefold 
 privilege: l. Their advice is suitable, and fit to our 
 present occasion, they can meet with our grievance, 
 so cannot books so well : 2. What comes from a 
 Hying friend, comes lively, as helped by his spirit : 
 3. In regard of ourselves, what they say is appre- 
 hended with more ease, and less plodding and bent 
 of mind ; there is scarce any thing wherein we see God 
 more in favour towards us, than in our friends, and 
 their seasonable speeches ; our hearts being naturally 
 very false and willingly deceived. God often gives 
 us up to be misled by men, not according to his, but 
 our own naughty hearts. As men are, so are their 
 counsellors, for such they will have, and such God 
 lets them have. Men whose wills are stronger than 
 their wits, who are wedded to their own ways, are 
 more pleased to hear that which complies with their 
 inclinations, than a harsh truth which crosses them ; 
 this presages ruin, because they are not counselable : 
 wherefore God suffers them to be led through difooVs 
 paradise to a true prison, as men that will neither 
 hear themselves nor others who would do them good 
 against their wills ; it was a sign God would destroy 
 Eli's sons when they would hear no counsel, 1 Sam. 
 ii. 25 ; God fills such men with their own ways, 
 Prov. xiv. 14. Men in great place often in the 
 abundance of all things else, want the benefit of a 
 true friend, because under pretence of service of them 
 men carry their own ends ; as they flatter themselves, 
 so they are flattered by others, and so robbed of the 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 131 
 
 tme judgment of themselves. Of all spiritual judg- 
 ments this is the heaviest, for men to be given up to 
 such a measure of self-willness, and to refuse spiritual 
 balm to heal them, usually such perish without re^ 
 medy, Prov. xxix. 1, because to be wilfully miserable 
 is to be doubly miserable, for it adds to our misery, 
 that we brought it willingly upon ourselves. 
 
 It is a course that will have a blessing attending it, 
 for friends to join in league, one to watch over another, 
 and observe each other's ways. It is a usual course 
 for Christians to join together in other holy duties, as 
 hearing, receiving of the sacrament, prayer, &c. but 
 this fruit of holy communion which ariseth from a 
 mutual observing one another is much wanting;, 
 whence it is that many droop, so many are so un- 
 cheerful in the ways of God, and lie groaning under 
 the burden of many cares, and are battered vrith so 
 many temptations, &c. because they are left only to 
 their own spirits. What an unworthy thing is it, 
 that we should pity a beast over-loaden, and yet take 
 no pity of a brother? whereas there is no living 
 member of Christ but hath spiritual love infused into 
 him, and some abihty to comfort others. Dead 
 stones in an arch uphold one another, and shall not 
 living ? It is the work of an angel to comfort, nav, 
 it is the office of the Holy Ghost to be a comforter, 
 not only immediately, but by breathing comfort into, 
 our hearts together with the comfortable words of 
 others ; thus one friend becomes an angel, nay a God 
 to another ; and there is a sweet sight of God in the 
 face of a friend ; for though the comfort given by 
 God's messengers be ordinarily most effectual, as the 
 blessing of parents, who are in God's room, is more 
 effectual than the blessing of others upon their chil-^ 
 
132 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 dren : yet God hath promised a blessing to the offices 
 of communion of saints performed by one private 
 man towards another. Can we have a greater en- 
 couragement than under God to be gainer of a soul, 
 which is as much in God's esteem as if we should 
 gain a world ? Spiritual alms are the best alms ; 
 mercy showed to the souls of men is the greatest 
 mercy ; and wisdom in winning of souls is the great- 
 est wisdom in the world, because the soul is especially 
 the man, upon the goodness of which, the happiness 
 of the whole man depends : what shining and flou- 
 rishing Christians should we have if these duties were 
 performed ? As we have a portion in the communion 
 of saints, so we should labour to have humility to 
 take good, and wisdom and love to do good. A 
 Christian should have feeding lips, and a healing 
 tongue; the leaves, the very words of the tree of 
 righteousness have a curing virtue in them. 
 
 Some will show a great deal of humanity in com- 
 forting others, but little Christianity; for as kind 
 men they will utter some cheerful words, but as Chris- 
 tians they want wisdom from above to speak a graci- 
 ous word in season : nay, some there are, who hin- 
 der the saving working of any affliction upon the 
 hearts of others, by unseasonable and unsavory dis- 
 courses, either by suggesting false remedies, or else 
 diverting men to false contentments, and so become 
 spiritual traitors rather than friends, taking part with 
 their worst enemies, their lusts, and wills. Happy is 
 he that in his way to heaven meeteth with a cheerful 
 and skilful guide and fellow-traveller, that carrieth 
 cordials with him against all faintings of spirit : it is 
 a part of our wisdom to salvation to make choice of 
 3uch a one as may further us in our way : an indif- 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 133 
 
 ferency for any company shows a dead heart ; where 
 the Hfe of grace is, it is sensible of all advantages and 
 disadvantages : how many have been refreshed by 
 one short, apt, savoury speech ? which hath begotten, 
 as it were, new spirits in them. 
 
 In ancient times, as we see in the story of Job, 
 chap. ii. 12, it was the custom of friends to meet to- 
 gether, to comfort those that were in misery, and Job 
 takes it for granted, that to him that is afflicted pity 
 should be showed from his friends, chap. vi. 14 : for 
 besides the presence of a friend which hath some influ- 
 ence of comfort in it ; 1. The discovery of his loving 
 affection hath a cherishing sweetness in it. 2. The 
 expression of love in real comforts and services by sup- 
 plying any outward want of the party troubled, pre- 
 vails much; thus Christ made way for his comforts 
 to the souls of men, by showing outward kindness to 
 their bodies : love with the sensible fruits of it, pre- 
 pareth for any wholesome counsel. 3. After this, 
 wholesome words carry a special cordial virtue with 
 them, especially when the Spirit of God in the affec- 
 tionate speaker joins with the word of comfort, and 
 thereby closeth with the heart of a troubled patient : 
 when all these concentre and meet together in one, 
 then is comfort sealed up to the soul. The child in 
 Elizabeth's womb sprang at the presence and saluta- 
 tion of Mary, Luke i. 41 ; the speech of one hearty 
 friend cannot but revive the spirits of another ; sym- 
 pathy hath a strange force, as we see in the strings of 
 an instrument, which being played upon, as they say, 
 the strings of another instrument are also moved with 
 it. After love hath once kindled love, then the heart 
 being melted, is fit to receive any impression ; unless 
 both pieces of the iron be red hot they will not join 
 
134 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 together ; two spirits warmed with the same heat will 
 easily solder together. 
 
 § II. In him that shall stay the mind of another 
 there had need to be an excellent temper of many 
 graces; as, 1. Knowledge of the grievance, together 
 with wisdom to speak a word in season, and to con- 
 ceal that which may set the cure backwards. 2. 
 Faithfulness with liberty, not to conceal any thing 
 which may be for his good, though against present 
 liking. The very life and soul of friendship stands in 
 freedom, tempered with wisdom and faithfulness. 3. 
 Love with compassion and patience to bear all, and 
 hope all, and Jiot to be easily provoked by the way- 
 wardness of him we deal with. Short-spirited men 
 are not the best comforters ; God himself is said to 
 bear with the manners of his people in the wilder- 
 ness, Acts xiii. 18 ; it is one thing to bear with a wise 
 sweet moderation that which may be borne, and ano- 
 ther thing to allow or approve that which is not to 
 be approved at all. Where these graces are in the 
 speaker, and apprehended so to be by the person 
 distempered, his heart will soon embrace whatsoever 
 shall be spoken to rectify his judgment or affection. 
 A good conceit of the spirit of the speaker is of as 
 much force to prevail as his words. Words especially 
 prevail, when they are uttered more from the bowels 
 than the brain, and from our own experience, which 
 made even Christ himself a more compassionate high 
 priest. When men come to themselves again they 
 will be the deepest censurers of their own miscarriage. 
 
 § III. Moreover to the right comforting of an afflicted 
 person, special care must be had of discerning the true 
 
THE soul's conflict. 135 
 
 ground of his grievance, the core must be searched 
 out ; if the grief ariseth from outward causes, then it 
 must be carried into the right channel, the course of 
 it must be turned another way, as in staying of blood : 
 we should grieve for sin in the first place, as being 
 the evil of all evils : if the ground be sin, then it must 
 be drawn to a head, from a confused grief to some 
 more particular sin, that so we may strike the right 
 vein ; but if we find the spirit much cast down for 
 particular sins, then comfort is presently to be apphed ; 
 but if the grief be not fully ripe, then, as we use to 
 help nature in its offers to purge, by physic, till the 
 sick matter be carried away; so when conscience, 
 moved by the spirit, begins to ease itself by confession, 
 it is good to help forward the work of it, till we find 
 the heart low enough for comfort to be laid upon. 
 When Paul found the jailer cast down almost as low 
 as hell, he stands not now upon further hammering, 
 and preparing of him for mercy, that work was done 
 already, but presently stirs him up to believe in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, Acts xvi. 31 ; here being a fit 
 place for an interpreter to declare unto man his righ- 
 teousness, and his mercy that belongs unto him after 
 he hath acknowledged his personal and particular 
 sins, which the natural guilt of the heart is extremely 
 backward to do, and yet cannot receive any sound 
 peace till it be done : if signs of grace be discerned, 
 here likewise is a fit place to declare unto man the 
 saving work of grace in his heart, which Satan labours 
 •to hide from him. Men oft are not able to read their 
 own evidences without help. 
 
 In case of stiffness and standing out, it is fit the 
 man of God should take some authority upon him, 
 and lay a charge upon the souls of men in the name 
 
136 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 of Christ, to give way to the truth of Christ, and to 
 forbear putting off that mercy which is so kindly of- 
 fered when we judge it to be their portion ; which 
 course will be successful in hearts awed with a reve-'^ 
 rend fear of grieving God's Spirit. Sometimes men 
 must be dealt roundly withal, as David here deals 
 with his own soul, that so whilst we ask a reason of 
 their dejection, they may plainly see they have no rea- 
 son to be so cast down ; for oftentimes grievances are 
 irrational, rising from mistakes ; and counsel, bringing 
 into the soul a fresh light, dissolves those gross fogs, 
 and setteth the soul at liberty. What grief is con- 
 tracted by false reason, is by true reason altered. 
 Thus it pleaseth God to humble men by letting them 
 see in what need they stand one of another, that so 
 the communion of saints may be endeared ; every re- 
 lation wherein we stand towards others, are so many 
 bonds and sinews whereby one member is fitted to de- 
 rive comfort to another, through love the bond of per- 
 fection, Col. iii. 18 : all must be done in this sweet 
 affection. A member out of joint must be tenderly 
 set in again, and bound up, which only men guided 
 by the spirit of love seasoned with discretion are fit 
 to do, they are taught of God to do what they should. 
 The more of Christ is in any man, the more wiUing- 
 ness and fitness to this duty ; to which this should en- 
 courage us, that in strengthening others we strengthen 
 ourselves, and derive upon ourselves the blessing pro- 
 nounced on those that consider the needy, Psalm xli. 
 1 , which will be our comfort here, and crown hereafter, 
 that God hath honoured us, to be instruments of spi- 
 ritual good to others. It is an injunction to comfort 
 the feeble minded, 1 Thes. v. 14, and there is a heavy 
 imputation on those that comforted not the weaky 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 137 
 
 Ezek. xxxiv. 4, when men will not own men in trouble, 
 but as the herd of deer forsake and push away the 
 wounded deer from them ; and those that are any ways 
 cast down, must stoop to those ways which God hath 
 sanctified to convey comfort; for though sometimes 
 the Spirit of God immediately comforts the soul, which 
 is the sweetest, yet for the most part the Sun of righ- 
 teousness that hath healing in his wings, conveyeth 
 the beams of his comfort by the help of others, in whom 
 he will have much of our comfort to lie hid, and for 
 this very end it pleaseth God to exercise his children, 
 and ministers especially, with trials and afflictions, 
 that so they, having felt what a troubled spirit is in 
 themselves, might be able to comfort others in their 
 distresses with the same comfort wherewith they have 
 been comforted : God often suspends comfort from us 
 to drive us to make use of our Christian friends, by 
 whom he purposeth to do us good. Oftentimes the 
 very opening of men's grievances, bringeth ease with- 
 out any further working upon them ; the very open- 
 ing of a vein cools the blood. If God in the state of 
 innocency thought it fit man should have a helper, if 
 God thought it fit to send an angel to comfort Christ 
 in his agonies, shall any man think the comfort of ano- 
 ther more than needs ? Satan makes every affliction, 
 by reason of our corruption, a temptation to us, where- 
 upon we are to encounter not only with our own cor- 
 ruptions, but with spiritual wickednesses, and need we 
 not then that others should join forces with us to dis- 
 cover the temptation, and to confirm and comfort us 
 against it? for so reason joining with reason, and af- 
 fection with affection, we come by uniting of strength 
 to be impregnable. Satan hath most advantage in 
 solitariness, and thereupon sets upon Christ in the 
 
138 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 wilderness^ Matt. iv. and upon Eve single, Gen. iii. 
 and it added to the glory of Christ's victory, that he 
 overcame him in a single combat, and in a place of 
 such disadvantage. Those that will be alone, at such 
 times, do as much as in them lieth to tempt the 
 tempter himself to tempt them. The preacher gives 
 three reasons why two are better than one, Eccles. 
 iv. 9; 1. Because if one fall, the other may Hft him 
 up : as that which is stronger shoreth up that which 
 is weaker, so feeble minds are raised and kept up by 
 the stronger : nay, oftentimes he that is weaker in 
 one grace is stronger in another ; one may help by 
 his experience and meekness of love, that needs the 
 help of another for knowledge. 2. \Uwo lie together, 
 one may warm another by kindhng one another's 
 spirits. Where two meet together upon such holy 
 grounds and aims, there Christ by his Spirit makes up 
 another, and this threefold cable who shall break? 
 While Joas lived, Jehoiada stood upright ; while Lati- 
 mer and Ridley lived, they kept up Cranmer by in- 
 tercourse of letters and otherwise, from entertaining 
 counsels of revolt. The disciples presently upon 
 Christ's apprehension fainted, notwithstanding he la- 
 boured by his heavenly doctrine to put courage and 
 comfort into them. 3. If any give an onset upon 
 them, there is two to withstand it, spirit joining with 
 spirit ; and because there is an acquaintance of spirits 
 as well as of persons, those are fittest to lay open our 
 minds unto, in whom upon experience of their fidelity 
 our hearts may most safely rely, we lose much of our 
 strength in the loss of a true friend ; which made Da- 
 vid bemoan the loss of his friend Jonathan, Woe is me 
 for thee my brother Jonathan ! 2 Sam. i. 20. He 
 lost a piece of himself, by losing him whom his heart 
 so clave unto ; Saint Paul accounted that God had 
 
THE soul's conflict. 139 
 
 showed especial mercy to him, in the recovery of Epa- 
 phroditus, Phil, ii. 27. 
 
 § IV. But there are divers miscarriages in those that 
 are troubled, which make the comfort of others of none 
 effect. 
 
 1. When the troubled party deals not directly, but 
 doubleth with him that is to help him. Some are 
 ashamed to acknowledge the true ground of their 
 grievance, pretending sorrow for one thing, when their 
 hearts tell them it ariseth from another : like the lap- 
 wings which make greatest noise farthest from their 
 nest, because they would not have it discovered : this 
 deceit moved our blessed Saviour (who knew what 
 was in the hearts of men) to fit his answers many times, 
 rather to the man than to the matter. 
 
 2. Some rely too much upon particular men. Oh 
 if they had such a one they should do well, and mis- 
 like others (fitter perhaps to deal with them, as having 
 more thorough knowledge of their estates) because they 
 would have their disease rather covered than cured ; 
 or if cured, yet with soft words, whereas no plaister 
 worketh better than that which causes smart. Some 
 out of mere humorous fondness must have that which 
 can hardly be got, or else nothing pleases them : Da- 
 vid must needs have the waters of Bethlehem, 2. Sam. 
 xxiii. 15, when others were nearer hand : and often- 
 times when men have not only whom they desire, but 
 such also who are fit and dextrous in dealing with a 
 troubled spirit, yet their souls feel no comfort, because 
 they make idols of men ; whereas men at the best are 
 but conduits of comfort, and such as God freely con- 
 veyeth comfort by, taking liberty oft to deny comfort 
 by them, that so he may be acknowledged the God 
 of all comfort. 
 
140 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 3. Some delude themselves, by thinking it suffici- 
 ent to have a few good v^^ords spoken to them, as if 
 that could cure them ; not regarding to apprehend 
 the same, and mingle it with faith, without which, 
 good words lose their working, even as wholesome 
 physic in a dead stomach. 
 
 Besides miscarriages in comforting ; times will often 
 fall out in our lives, that we shall have none either to 
 comfort us, or to be comforted by us, and then what 
 will become of us unless we can comfort ourselves ? 
 Men must not think always to Uve upon alms, but 
 lay up something in store for themselves, and provide 
 oil for their own lamps, and be able to draw out some- 
 thing from the treasury of their own hearts. We must 
 not go to the surgeon for every scratch. No wise tra- 
 veller but will have some refreshing waters about him. 
 Again, we are often driven to retire home to our own 
 hearts, by uncharitable imputations of other men ; 
 even friends sometimes become miserable comforters ; 
 it was Job's case, chap, ii., his friends had honest in- 
 tentions to comfort him, but erred in their manner of 
 dealing ; if he had found no more comfort by reflect- 
 ing upon his own sincerity, than he received from 
 them, who laboured to take it from him, he had been 
 doubly miserable. We are most privy to our own 
 intentions and aims, whence comfort must be fetched ; 
 let others speak what they can to us, if our own 
 hearts speak not with them, we shall receive no satis- 
 faction. Sometimes it may fall out, that those which 
 should unloose our spirits when they are bound up, 
 mistake, the key misses the_ right wards, and so we 
 lie bound still. Opening of our estate to another is 
 not good, but when it is necessary, and it is not ne- 
 cessary, when we can fetch supply from our own 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 141 
 
 store ; God would have us tender of our reputations, 
 except in some special cases, wherein we are to give 
 glory to God by a free and full confession. Needless 
 discovery of ourselves to others, makes us fear the con- 
 science of another man, as privy to that which we 
 are ashamed he should be privy unto, and it is neither 
 wisdom nor mercy to put men upon the rack of con- 
 fession, further than they can have no ease any other 
 way, for by this means we raise in them a jealousy 
 towards us, and oft without cause, which weakeneth 
 and tainteth that love which should unite hearts in 
 one. 
 
 CHAP. XV. 
 
 Of flying to God in Disquiets of Souls : eight 
 Observations out of the Text, 
 
 WHAT if neither the speech of others to us, nor 
 the rebuke of our own hearts will quiet the 
 soul ; is there no other remedy left ? 
 
 Yes, then look up to God, the father and fountain 
 of comfort, as David doth here ; for the more special 
 means whereby he sought to recover himself, was by 
 laying a charge upon his soul to trust in God ; for 
 having let his soul run out too much, he begins to re- 
 collect himself again, and resign up all to God. 
 
 § I. But how came David to have the command of 
 his own soul, so as to take it off from grief, and to 
 place it upon God, could he dispose of his own heart 
 himself? 
 
 The child of God hath something in him above a 
 man, he hath the Spirit of God to guide his spirit : 
 this command of David to his soul was under the 
 command of the great commander : God commands 
 
142 THE SOUL*S CONFLICT. 
 
 David to trust in him, and at the same time infusetli 
 strength into his soul by thinking of God's command, 
 and trusting to God's power, to command itself to 
 trust in God : so that this command is not only by 
 authority, but by virtue likewise of God's command : 
 as the inferior orbs move as they are moved by a 
 higher; so David's spirit here moves as it is moved 
 by God's spirit, which inwardly spak^ to him to speak 
 to himself. 
 
 David, in speaking thus to his own soul, was, as 
 every true Christian is, a prophet, and an instructor 
 to himself: it is but as if inferior officers should 
 charge in the name and power of the king. God's 
 children have a principle of life in them from the Spi- 
 rit of God, by which they command themselves. To 
 give charge belongs to a superior ; David had a dou- 
 ble superior above him, his own spirit as sanctified, 
 and God's Spirit guiding that. Our spirits are the 
 Spirit's agents, and the Holy Spirit is God's agent, 
 maintaining his right in us. As God hath made man 
 a free agent, so he guides him, and preserves that 
 free manner of working which is agreeable to man's 
 nature. 
 
 By this it appears, that David's moving of himself, 
 did not hinder the Spirit's moving of him, neither did 
 the Spirit's moving of him hinder him from moving 
 himself in a free manner; for the Spirit of God 
 moveth according to our principles ; it openeth our 
 understandings to see that it is best to trust in God ; 
 it moveth so sweetly, as if it were an inbred principle, 
 and all one with our own spirits ; if we should hold 
 our will to move itself, and not to be moved by the 
 Spirit, we should make a God of it, whose property 
 is to move other things, and not to be moved by any. 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 143 
 
 We are in "some sort lords over our own speeches 
 and actions, but yet, under a higher lord. David 
 was willing to trust in God, but God wrought that 
 will in him : he first makes our will good, and then 
 works by it. It is a sacrilegious liberty that will ac- 
 knowledge no dependence upon God. We are wise 
 in his wisdom, and strong in his strength, who saith, 
 Without me ye can do nothing, John xv. But the 
 bud of a good desire, and the blossom of a good re- 
 solution, and the fruit of a good action, all comes 
 from God. Indeed the understanding is ours where- 
 by we know what to do, and the will is ours whereby 
 we make choice of what is best to be done ; but the 
 light whereby we know, and the guidance whereby 
 we choose, that is from a higher agent, which is ready 
 to flow into us with present fresh supply, when by 
 virtue of former strength we put ourselves forward in 
 obedience to God. Let but David say to his soul 
 being charged of God to trust, I charge thee, my soul, 
 to trust in him, and he finds a present strength en- 
 abling to it. Therefore we must both depend upon 
 God as the first mover, and withal set all the inferior 
 wheels of our souls agoing according as the Spirit of 
 God ministers motion unto us. So shall we be free 
 from self-confidence, and likewise from neglecting 
 that order of working which God hath established. 
 David hearkened what the Lord said, before he said 
 any thing to himself, so should we. God*s com- 
 mands tend to this, that we should command our- 
 selves. God, and the minister under God, bid us 
 trust in him, but all is to no purpose till grace be 
 wrought in the soul, whereby it bids itself; our 
 speaking to others doth no good, till they by enter- 
 taining what we say, speak the same to their own 
 souls. 
 
144 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 In this charge of David upon his own soul, we may 
 see divers passages and privileges of a gracious heart 
 in trouble. 
 
 § II. As 1. That a Christian, when he is beaten 
 out of all other comforts, yet hath a God to run 
 unto ; a wicked man beaten out of earthly comforts, 
 is as a naked man in a storm, and an unarmed man 
 in the field, or as a ship tossed in the sea without an 
 anchor, which presently dashes upon rocks, or falleth 
 upon quicksands ; but a Christian, when he is driven 
 out of all comforts below, nay, when God seems to 
 be angry with him, he can appeal from God angry to 
 God appeased, he can wrestle and strive with God by 
 God's own strength, fight with him with his own wea- 
 pons, and plead with God by his own arguments. 
 What a happy estate is this? who would not be a 
 Christian, if it were but for this, to have something to 
 rely on when all things else fail ? The confusion and 
 unquietness which troubles raise in the soul, may 
 drive it from resting in itself, but there can never be 
 any true peace settled, until it sees and resolves what 
 to stay upon. 
 
 § III. 2. We see here, that there is a sanctified use 
 of all troubles to God's children ; first they drive 
 them out of themselves, and then draw them nearer 
 to God. Crosses indeed of themselves estrange us 
 more from God, but by an overruling work of the 
 Spirit they bring us nearer to him ; the soul of itself 
 is ready to misgive, as if God had too many contro- 
 versies with it, to show any favour towards it; and 
 Satan helpeth ; because he knows nothing can stand 
 and prevail against God, or a soul that relieth on 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 145 
 
 him, therefore he labours to breed and increase an 
 everlasting division betwixt God and the soul ; but 
 let not Christians muse so much upon their trouble, 
 but see whither it carries them, whether it brings 
 them nearer unto God, or not; it is a never failing 
 rule of discerning a man to be in the state of grace, 
 when he finds every condition draw him nearer to 
 God ; for thus it appears that such love God, and are 
 called of him, unto whom all things work together 
 for the best, Rom. viii. 28. 
 
 § IV. 3. Again, hence we see that the Spirit of 
 God by these inward speeches doth awake the soul, 
 and keep it in a holy exercise, by stirring up the 
 grace of faith to its proper function. It is not so 
 much the having of grace, as grace in exercise, that 
 preserves the soul ; therefore we should by this and 
 the like means stir up the grace of God in us, that 
 so it may be kept aworking and in vigour and 
 strength. It was David's manner to awake himself, 
 by bidding both heart and harp to awake. It is the 
 waking Christian (that hath his wit and his grace 
 ready about him) who is the safe Christian; grace 
 dormant without the exercise doth not secure us. It 
 is almost all one (in regard of present exigence) for 
 grace not to be and not to work. The soul without 
 action is Uke an instrument not played upon, or like 
 a ship always in the haven, motion is a preservative 
 of the purity of things. Even life itself is made more 
 lively by action. The Spirit of God whereby his 
 children are led, is compared to things of the quickest 
 and strongest actions ; as fire and wind, &c. God 
 himself is a pure act, always in acting ; and every 
 thing the nearer it comes to God, the more it hath its 
 
146 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 perfection in working. The happiness of man con- 
 sists chiefly in a gracious frame of spirit, and actions 
 suitable sweetly issuing therefrom : the very rest of 
 heavenly bodies is in motion in their proper places. 
 By this stirring up the grace of God in us, sparkles 
 come to be flames, and all graces are kept bright. 
 Troubles stir up David, and David being stirred stirs 
 up himself. 
 
 § v. 4. We see likewise here a further use of so- 
 liloquies or speeches to our own hearts ; when the 
 soul by entering into itself sees itself put out of order, 
 then it enjoins this duty of trusting in God upon it : 
 if we look only on ourselves and not turn to God, the 
 work of the soul is imperfect : then the soul worketh 
 as it should, when as by reflecting on itself, it gathers 
 some profitable conclusion, and leaveth itself with 
 God. David upon reflecting on himself found no- 
 thing but discouragement, but when he looks upward 
 to God, there he finds rest. This is one end wliy 
 God suffers the soul to tire and beat itself, that find- 
 ing no rest in itself, it might seek to him. David 
 yields not so much to his passion as that it should 
 keep him from God. Therefore let no man truly re- 
 ligious pretend, for an excuse, his temper or pro- 
 voking occasions, &c. for grace doth raise the soul 
 above nature; grace doth not only stop the soul in 
 an evil way, but carries it to a contrary good, and 
 raiseth it up to God. Though holy men be subject 
 to like passions ivith others, James v. 17, (as it is 
 said of Elias) yet they are not so enthralled to them, 
 as that they carry them wholly away from their God, 
 but they hear a voice of the Spirit within them, call- 
 ing them back again to their former communion with 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 147 
 
 God ; and so grace takes occasion, even from sin, to 
 exercise itself. 
 
 § VI. 5, Observe farther, that distrust is the cause 
 of all disquiet : the soul suffers itself by something 
 here below^ to be drawn away from God, but can find 
 no rest till it return to him again. As Noah's dove 
 had no place to set her ybo^ upon^ Gen. viii. 11, till 
 it was received into the ark from whence it came. 
 And it is God's mercy to us, that when we have let 
 go our hold of God, we should find nothing but trou- 
 ble and unquietness in any thing else, that so we 
 might remember from whence we are fallen, and re- 
 turn home again. That is a good trouble which frees 
 us from the greatest trouble, and brings with it the 
 most comfortable rest ; it is but an unquiet quiet, and 
 a restless rest which is out of God. It is a deep spi- 
 ritual judgment for a man to find too much rest in the 
 creature : the soul that hath had a saving work upon 
 it, will be always impatient until it recover its former 
 sweetness in God : after God's Spirit hath once 
 touched the soul, it will never be quiet until it stands 
 pointed God- ward. 
 
 But conscience may object, UiJon any offence is 
 God offended, and therefore not to be trusted ? 
 
 It is true, where faith is not above natural conscience, 
 but a conscience sprinkled with the blood of Christ, 
 is not scared from God by its infirmities and failings, but 
 as David here is rather stirred up to run unto God by 
 his distemper ; and it had been a greater sin than his 
 distemper not to have gone unto God. Those that 
 have the spirit of sons in their hearts, run not further 
 from God after they have a little strayed from him, 
 but though it be the nature of sinful passions to breed 
 
148 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 grief and shame, yet they will repair to God again, 
 and their confidence overcomes their guilt, so well are 
 they acquainted with God's gracious disposition. 
 
 Yet we see here, David thinks not of trusting in 
 God, till first he had done justice upon his own soul, 
 in rebuking the unruly motions thereof; censure for 
 sin goeth before favour in pardoning sin, or boldness 
 to ask pardon of God ; those that love God must 
 hate ill, Psalm xcvii. 10 : if our consciences condemn 
 us of allowing any sin, we cannot have boldness with 
 God who is (light and can abide no darkness and) 
 greater than our consciences, 
 
 § VII. 6. Moreover, hence we see it is no easy 
 thing to bring God and the heart together : David 
 here as he often checks his heart, so he doth often 
 charge his heart. Doubts and troubles are still 
 gathering upon him, and his faith still gathering upon 
 them. As one striving to get the haven, is driven 
 back by the waves, but recovering himself again, gets 
 forward still, and after often beating back, at length 
 obtains the wished haven, and then is at rest. So 
 much ado there is to bring the soul unto God, the 
 harbour of true comfort. It were an easy thing to 
 be a Christian, if religion stood only in a few outward 
 works and duties, but to take the soul to task, and to 
 deal roundly with our own hearts, and to let con- 
 science have its full work, and to bring the soul into 
 spiritual subjection unto God ; this is not so easy a 
 matter, because the soul out of self-love is loath to 
 enter into itself, lest it should have other thoughts of 
 itself than it would have; David must bid his soul 
 trust, and trust, and trust again before it will yield. 
 One main ground of this difficulty, is that contrary 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 149 
 
 which is in the soul by reason of contrary principles : 
 the soul so far as it is gracious, commands, so far as it is 
 rebelHous, resists, which drew holy Austin to a kind of 
 astonishment; *' The soul commands the body and it 
 yields^ saith he, it commands itself, and is resisted by 
 itself; it commands the hand to move, and it moveth 
 with such an unperceivable quickness that you can 
 discern no distance betwixt the command and the 
 motion : Whence comes this ? but because the soul 
 perfectly wills not, and perfectly enjoins not that 
 which is good, and so far forth as it fully wills not, 
 so far it holds back." There should be no need of 
 commanding the soul if it were perfect, for then it 
 would be of itself, what it now commandeth. If Da- 
 vid had gotten his soul at perfect freedom at the first, 
 he needed not have repeated his charge so often upon 
 it. But the soul naturally sinks downward, and there- 
 fore had need often to be wound up. 
 
 § VIII. 7. We should therefore labour to bring our 
 souls, as David doth here, to a firm and peremptory 
 resolution, and not stand wavering, and as it were 
 equally balanced betwixt God and other things ; but 
 enforce our souls, we shall get little ground of infi- 
 delity else ; drive your souls therefore to this issue, 
 either to rely upon God, or else to yield up itself to 
 the present grievance ; if by yielding it resolves to be 
 miserable, there's an end, but if it desires rest, then 
 let it resolve upon this only way, to trust in God ; 
 and well may the soul so resolve, because in God 
 there are grounds of quieting the soul, above all that 
 may unsettle it ; in him there is both worth to satisfy, 
 and strength to support the soul. The best way to 
 maintain inward peace, is to settle and fix our thoughts 
 
150 THE soul's COIn'FLICT. 
 
 upon that which will make us better, till we find our 
 hearts warmed and wrought upon thereby, and then, 
 as the prophet speaks, God will keep us in peace : 
 peace, that is, in perfect and abundant peace , Isaiah 
 xxvi. 3. This resolution stayed Job, that though 
 God should, kill him, yet he resolved to trust in him. 
 Answerable to our resolution is our peace : the more 
 resolution the more peace ; irresolution of itself with- 
 out any grievance is full of disquiet ; it is an unsafe 
 thing always to begin to live ; to be always cheapen- 
 ing and paltering with God : come to this point once, 
 trust God I ought, therefore trust God I will, come 
 what may or will. 
 
 And it is good to renew our resolutions again and 
 again : for every new resolution brings the soul closer 
 to God, and gets further in him, and brings fresh 
 strength from him ; which if we neglect, our corrup- 
 tion joining with outward hindrances will carry us 
 further and further backward, and this will double, 
 yea, multiply our trouble and grief to recover our- 
 selves again ; we have both wind and tide against us : 
 we are going up the hill, and therefore had need to 
 arm ourselves with resolution. Since the fall, the 
 motion of the soul upward, as of heavy bodies, is vio- 
 lent ; in regard of corruption which weighs it down- 
 ward, and therefore all enforcement is little enough : 
 oppose therefore with David all invincible resolution, 
 and then doubt not of prevailing ; if we resolve in 
 God's power and not our own, and be strong in the 
 Lord, Eph. vi. 10, and not in ourselves, then it mat- 
 ters not what our troubles or temptations be either 
 from within, or without, for trust in God at length 
 will triumph. 
 
 Here is a great mercy, that when David had a little 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 151 
 
 let go his hold of God, yet God would not let go his 
 hold of him, but by a spirit of faith draws him back 
 again to himself; God turns us unto him, and then 
 we return. Turn us again, saith the Psalmist, cause 
 thy face to shine upon us, and we shall be saved, 
 Psalm Ixxx. 19. When the soul leaves God once, it 
 loses its way, and itself ; and never returns till God 
 recalls it again. If moral principles, cherished and 
 strengthened by good education, will enable the soul 
 against vicious inclinations, so that though some in- 
 fluence of the heavens work upon the air, and the air 
 upon the spirits, and the spirits upon the humours, 
 and these incline the temper, and that inclines the 
 soul of a man such and such ways, yet breeding in the 
 more refined sort of civil persons, will much prevail to 
 draw them another way ; what then may we think of 
 this powerful grace of faith which is altogether super- 
 natural ? Will not this carry the soul above all natu- 
 ral inchnations whatsoever (though strengthened by 
 outward occasions), if we resolve to put it to it : Da- 
 vid was a king of other men, but here he shows that 
 he was a king of himself. What benefit is it for a 
 man to be ruler over all the ^Cv^orld, and yet remain a 
 slave to himself? 
 
 § IX. 8. Again, David here doth not only resolve, 
 \mt presently takes up his soul before it strayed too 
 far from God; the further and the longer the soul 
 wanders from God, the more it entangles itself, and 
 the thicker darkness will cover the soul, yea, the 
 loather it is to come to God again, being ashamed to 
 look God in the face after discontinuing of acquaint- 
 ance with him ; nay, the stronger the league grows 
 betwixt sin and the soul, and the more there groweth 
 
152 THE soul's COIs^FLICT. 
 
 a kind of suitableness betwixt the soul and sin ; too 
 long giving way to base thoughts and affections, dis- 
 covers too much complacency and liking of sin. If 
 we once give way, a little grief will turn into bitter 
 sorrow, and that into a settled pensiveness and hea- 
 viness of spirit , fear will grow into astonishment, and 
 discouragement into despair; if ever we mean to 
 trust God, why 'not now? How many are taken 
 away in their offers and assays, before they have pre- 
 pared their hearts to cleave unto God ? The sooner 
 we give up ourselves to the Lord, the sooner we 
 know upon what terms we stand, and the sooner we 
 provide for our best security, and have not our grounds 
 of comfort to seek when we shall stand most in need 
 of them. Time will salve up grief in the meanest of 
 men ; reason, in those that will suffer themselves to be 
 ruled thereby, will cure, or at least stay the fits of it 
 sooner : but faith, if we stir it up, will give our souls 
 no rest, until it hath brought us to our true rest, that 
 is, to God : therefore we should press the heart for- 
 ward to God presently, that Satan make not the rent 
 greater. 
 
 Lastly, here we see, that though the soul he over- 
 borne by passion for a time, yet if grace hath once 
 truly seasoned it, it will work itself into freedom 
 again; grace as oil will be above. The eye when 
 any dust falls into it, is not more tender and unquiet, 
 till it be wrought out again, than a gracious soul is 
 being once troubled : the spirit as a spring will be 
 cleansing of itself more and more ; whereas the heart 
 of a carnal man is like a standing pool, whatsoever is 
 cast into it, there it rests ; trouble and disquietness in 
 him are in their proper place ; it is proper for the sea 
 to rage and cast up dirt ; God hath set it down for an 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 153 
 
 eternal rule, that vexation and sin shall be insepa- 
 rable. Happiness and rest were severed from sin in 
 heaven when the angels fell, and in Paradise when 
 Adam fell, and will remain for ever separated, until 
 the breach be made up by faith in Christ, Gen, iii. 
 
 CHAP. XVI. 
 
 Of Trust in God: Grounds of it ; especially his 
 Providence. 
 
 BUT to come nearer to the unfolding of this trust- 
 ing in God, which David useth here as a re- 
 medy against all distempers : Howsoever confidence 
 and trust be an affection of nature, yet by the Spirit's 
 sanctifying and carrying it to the right object, it be- 
 comes a grace of wonderful use. In the things of this 
 life usually he that hopes most is the most unwise 
 man ; he being most deceived that hopes most, be- 
 cause he trusts in that which is uncertain, and there- 
 fore deceitful hope is counted but the dream of a 
 waking man. But in religion it is far otherwise ; here, 
 hope is the main supporting grace of the soul, spring- 
 ing from faith in the promises of God. 
 
 Trust and hope are often taken in the same sense, 
 though a distinction betwixt them hath sometimes its 
 use : faith looks to the word promising, hope to the 
 thing promised in the word ; faith looks to the autho- 
 rity of the promiser, hope (especially) to the goodness 
 of the promise; faith looks upon things as present, 
 hope as to come hereafter. God as the first truth is 
 that which faith relies on, but God as the chief good 
 is that which hope rests on : trust or confidence is 
 nothing else, but the strength of hope ; if the thing 
 hoped for be deferred, then of necessity it enforces 
 
154 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 waiting, and waiting is nothing else but hope and 
 trust lengthened. 
 
 Howsoever there may be use of these and such like 
 distinctions, yet usually they are taken promiscuously, 
 especially in the Old Testament. The nature and use 
 of faith is set out by terms of staying, resting, lean- 
 ing, rolling ourselves upon God, &:c. which come all 
 to one, and therefore we forbear any further curious 
 distinction. 
 
 Now seeing trusting in God is a remedy against 
 all distempers, it is necessary that we should bring the 
 object and the act (God and the soul) together ; for 
 effecting of which it is good to know something con- 
 cerning God and something concerning trust. God 
 is only the fit object of trust, he hath all the proper- 
 ties of that which should be trusted on ; a man can 
 be in no condition wherein God is at a loss and cannot 
 help him ; if comforts be wanting, he can create com- 
 forts, not only out of nothing but out of discomforts ; 
 he made the whale that swallowed up Jonas a means 
 to bring him to the shore, Jonah i. 17. The sea was 
 a wall to the Israehtes on both sides : the devouring 
 flames were a great refreshing to the three children 
 in the fiery furnace, Dan. iii ; that trouble which we 
 think will swallow us up, may be a means to bring us 
 to our haven ; so mighty is God in power, and so ex- 
 cellent in working, Isaiah xxviii. 29. God then, and 
 God only is a fit foundation for the soul to build itself 
 upon, for the firmer the foundation is, the stronger 
 will the building be, therefore those that will build 
 high must dig deep : the higher the tree riseth, the 
 deeper the root spreadeth and fasteneth itself below. 
 So it is in faith, if the foundation thereof be not firm, 
 the soul cannot build itself strongly upon it ; faith 
 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 155 
 
 liatli a double principle to build on, either a principle 
 of being, or a principle of knowing ; the principle of 
 being is God himself, the principle of knowing is God's 
 word, whereby God cometh forth (out of that hidden 
 light which none can attain unto) and discovereth 
 his meaning towards us for our good. 
 
 This then must, 1. be supposed for a ground, that 
 there is a God, and that God is, that is, hath a full 
 and eternal being and giveth a being, and an order 
 of being, to all things else ; some things have only a 
 being, some things hfe and being, some things sense 
 &c. and some things have a more excellent being, in- 
 cluding all the former, as the being of creatures in- 
 dued with reason ; if God had not a being, nothing 
 else could be : in things subordinate one to another, 
 take away the first, and you take away all the rest : 
 therefore this proposition (God is) is the first truth of 
 all, and if this were not, nothing else should be : as 
 we see if the heavenly bodies do not move, there is 
 no motion here below. 
 
 2. In the divine nature or being, there is a subsisting 
 of three persons, every one to set out unto us, as fitted 
 for us to trust in ; the Father as a Creator, the Son 
 as a Redeemer, the Holy Ghost as a Comforter, and 
 all this in reference to us : God in the first person 
 hath decreed the great work of our salvation, and all 
 things tending to the accomplishment of it ; God in 
 the second person hath exactly and fully answered 
 that decree and plot, in the work of our redemption ; 
 God in the third person discovers and applies all unto 
 us, and fits us for communion with the Father and 
 the Son from whom he proceeds. 
 
 3. God cannot be comfortably thought upon out 
 of Christ our Mediator, in whom he was reconciling 
 
156 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 the world to himself, 1 Cor. v. 19, as being a friend 
 both to God and us, and therefore fit to bring God 
 and the soul together, being a middle person in the 
 Trinity ; in Christ God's nature becomes lovely to us, 
 and ours to God : otherwise there is an utter enmity 
 betwixt his pure and our impure nature : Christ hath 
 made up the vast gulf between God and us ; there 
 is nothing more terrible to think on, than an absolute 
 God out of Christ. 
 
 4. Therefore for the better drawing of us to trust 
 in God, we must conceive of him under the sweet re- 
 lation of a father ; God's nature is fatherly now unto 
 us, and therefore lovely. 
 
 5. And for further strengthening our faith it is need- 
 ful to consider what excellencies the Scripture giveth 
 unto God, answerable to all our necessities, what 
 sweet names God is pleased to be known unto us by 
 for our comfort, as a merciful, gracious, long-suffer- 
 ing God, &c. Exod. xxxiv. 6. 
 
 When Moses desired to see the glory of God, God 
 thus manifested himself, in the way of goodness, / 
 will make all my goodness pass before thee, Exod. 
 xxxiii. 16. 
 
 Whatsoever is good in the creature is first in God 
 as a fountain; and it is in God in a more eminent 
 manner and fuller measure. All grace and holiness, 
 all sweetness of affection, all power and wisdom, &c. 
 as it is in him, so it is from him, and we come to 
 conceive these properties to be in God, 1. by feeling 
 the comfort and power of them in ourselves ; 2. by 
 observing these things in their measure to be in the 
 best of the creatures, whence we arise to take notice 
 of what grace and what love, what strength and wis- 
 dom, &c. is in God, by the beams of these which 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 157 
 
 we see in his creature, with adding in our thoughts 
 fulness pecuhar to God, and abstracting imperfection, 
 incident to the creature ; for that is in God in the 
 highest degree, the sparkles whereof it is but in us. 
 
 6. Therefore it is fit that unto all other eminences 
 in God, we should strengthen our faith by considering 
 those glorious singularities, which are altogether in- 
 communicable to the creature, and which give strength 
 to his other properties, as that God is not only gra- 
 cious and loving, powerful, wise, &c. but that he is 
 infinitely, eternally, and unchangeably so. All which 
 are comprised in and drawn from that one name Je- 
 hovah, as being of himself, and giving a being to all 
 things else, of nothing ; and able when it pleaseth 
 him to turn all things to nothing again. 
 
 7. As God is thus, so he makes it good by answer- 
 able actions and dealing towards us, by his continual 
 providence ; the consideration whereof is a great stay 
 to our faith, for by this providence God makes use of 
 all his former excellencies for his people's good : for the 
 more comfortable apprehension of which, it is good to 
 know that God's providence is extended as far as his 
 creation. Every creature, in every element and place 
 whatsoever, receiveth a powerful influence from God, 
 who doth what pleaseth him, both in Heaven and earth, 
 in the sea, and all places ; but we must know, God 
 doth not put things into a frame, and then leave them 
 to their own motion as we do clocks, after we have 
 once set them right, and ships after we have once 
 built them, commit them to wind and waves; but 
 as he made all things, and knows all things, so, by a 
 continued kind of creation, he preserves all things in 
 their being and working, and governs them to their 
 ends ; he is the first mover that sets all the v/heels of 
 
158 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 the creature aworking : one wheel may move another, 
 but all are moved by the first. If God moves not, the 
 clock of the creature stands. If God should not up- 
 hold things, they would presently fall (to nothing) 
 from whence they came. If God should not guide 
 things, Satan's malice, and man's weakness, would 
 soon bring all to a confusion. If God did not rule 
 the great family of the world, all would break and fall 
 to pieces, whereas the wise providence of God keep- 
 eth every thing on its right hinges. All things stand 
 in obedience to this providence of God, and nothing 
 can withdraw itself from under it; if the creature 
 withdraw itself from one order of providence, it falls 
 into another ; if man (the most unruly and disordered 
 creature of all) withdraw himself from God's gracious 
 government of him to happiness, he will soon fall un- 
 der God's just government of him to deserved misery ; 
 if he shakes off God's sweet yoke, he puts himself 
 under Satan's heavy yoke, who, as God's executioner, 
 hardens him to destruction ; and so whilst he rushes 
 against God's will, he fulfills it. And whilst he will 
 not willingly do God's will, God's will is done upon 
 him against his will. 
 
 The most casual things fall under providence, yea, 
 the most disordered thing in the world, sin, and (of 
 sins the most horrible that ever the sun beheld) the 
 crucifying of the Lord of life, was guided by a hand 
 of providence to the greatest good. For that which is 
 casual in regard of a second cause, is not so in regard 
 of the first, whose providence is most clearly seen in 
 casual events that fall out by accident, for in these 
 the effect cannot be ascribed to the next cause ; God 
 is said to kill him, who was unwarily slain by the 
 falling of an axe or some instrument of death, Deut^ 
 xix. 5. 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 159 
 
 And though man hath a freedom in working, and 
 of all men, the hearts of kings are most free, yet even 
 these are guided by an overruling power, Prov. xxi. 
 1, as the rivers of water are carried in their channels, 
 whither skilful men list to derive them. 
 
 For settling of our faith the more, God taketh liberty 
 in using weak means, to great purposes, and setting 
 aside more likely and able means, yea, sometimes he 
 altogether disableth the greatest means, and worketh 
 often by no means at all. It is not for want of 
 power in God but from abundance and multiplying 
 of his goodness that he useth any means at all : there 
 is nothing that he doth by means, but he is able to do 
 without means. 
 
 Nay, God often bringeth his will to pass by cross- 
 ing the course and stream of means, to show his own 
 sovereignty, and to exercise our dependence; and 
 maketh his very enemies, the accomplishers of his 
 own will, and so, to bring about that which they op- 
 pose most. Hence it is that we believe under hope 
 against hope, Psahn cxxxv. 6. 
 
 But we must know, God's manner of guiding things 
 is without prejudice of the proper working of the 
 things themselves ; he guideth them sweetly accord- 
 ing to the instincts he hath put into them ; for, 
 
 1. He furnishes creatures with a virtue and power 
 to work, and hkewise with a manner of working suit- 
 able to their own nature, as it is proper for a man, 
 when he works, to work with freedom, and other 
 creatures by natural instinct, &c. 
 
 2. God maintaineth both the power and manner of 
 working, and perfecteth and accomphsheth the same 
 
 I by acting of it, being nearer to us in all we do, than 
 
160 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 abilities and actions, to this or that particular, as he 
 seeth best. 4. He suspends or removes the hinder- 
 ances of all actions, and so, powerfully, wisely, and 
 sweetly orders them to his own ends. When any evil 
 is intended, God either puts bars and lets to the exe- 
 cution of it, or else limiteth and boundeth the same, 
 both in regard of time and measure, so that our ene- 
 mies either shall not do the evil at all, or else not so 
 long a time, or not in such a height of mischief, as 
 their malice would carry them to : the rod of the 
 wicked may light upon the back of the righteous, 
 Psalm cxxv. 3, but it shall not rest there ; God knows 
 how to take our enemies off, sometimes by changing, 
 or stopping their wills, by oiFering considerations of 
 some good or ill, danger or profit to them ; sometimes 
 by taking away, and weakening all their strength, or 
 else by opposing an equal or greater strength against 
 it. All the strength our enemies have rests in God : 
 who if he denies concourse and influence, the arm of 
 their power (as Jeroboam's, when he stretched it out 
 against the prophet) shrinks up presently. 
 
 God is not only the cause of things and actions, 
 but the cause likewise of the cessation of them, why 
 they fall not out at all. God is the cause why things 
 are not, as well as why they are ; the cause why men 
 favour us not, or, when they do favour us, want pre- 
 sent wisdom and ability to help us, is from God's 
 withdrawing the concurrence of his light and strength 
 from them. If a skilful physician doth us no good, 
 it is because it pleaseth God to hide the right way of 
 curing at that time from him. Which should move 
 us to see God in all that befalls us, who hath suffi- 
 cient reason, as to do what he doth, so not to do 
 what he doth not, to hinder, as well as to give way. 
 
THE SOUL*S COXFLICT. 161 
 
 The God of spirits hath an influence into the spi- 
 rits of men, into the principles and springs of all 
 actions ; otherwise he could not so certainly foretell 
 things to come. God had a work in Absalom's heart 
 in that he refused the best counsel ; there is nothing 
 independent of him, who is the mover of all things, 
 and himself unmoveable. 
 
 Nothing so high, that is above his providence; 
 nothing so low, that is beneath it ; nothing so large, 
 but is bounded by it ; nothing so confused, but God 
 can order it ; nothing so bad, but he can draw good 
 out of it ; nothing so wisely plotted, but God can 
 disappoint it, as AchitopheFs counsel; nothing so 
 simply and unpoliticly carried, but he can give a pre- 
 vaiUng issue unto it ; nothing so freely carried, in re- 
 gard of the next cause, but God can make it neces- 
 sary in regard of the event ; nothing so natural, but 
 he can suspend it in regard of operation, as heavy 
 bodies from sinking, fire from burning, &c. 
 
 It cannot but bring strong security to the soul, to 
 know that in all variety of changes and intercourse of 
 good and bad events, God and our God, hath such 
 a disposing hand. Whatsoever befalls us, all serves 
 to bring God's electing love, and our glorification to- 
 gether, God's providence serveth his purpose to save 
 us. All suflTerings, all blessings, all ordinances, all 
 graces, all common gifts, nay, our very falls, yea, 
 Satan himself with all his instruments, as over-mas- 
 tered, and ruled by God, have this injunction upon 
 them to further God's good intendment to us and a 
 prohibition to do us no harm. Augustus taxed the 
 world for civil ends, but God's providence used this 
 as a means for Christ to be born at Bethlehem, 
 Esther vi. 1. Ahasuerus could not sleep, and there- 
 
162 THE SOUL*S CONFLICT. 
 
 upon calls for the chronicles, the reading* of which 
 occasioned the Jews* deHvery. God oft disposeth 
 little occasions to great purposes. And by those^ 
 very ways whereby proud men have gone about to 
 withstand God's counsels, they have fulfilled them, 
 as we see in the story of Joseph and Moses, in the 
 timig wherein they dealt proudly y He was above 
 them, Exod. x. 11. 
 
 CHAP. XVII. 
 
 Of Graces to be exercised in respect of Divine 
 Providence, 
 
 WE are under a providence that is above our 
 own ; which should be a ground unto us, of 
 exercising those graces that tend to settle the soul in 
 all events. As, 
 
 1. Hence to lay our hand upon our mouths, and 
 command the soul an holy silence, not daring to yield 
 to the least rising of our hearts against God. / was 
 dumb, and opened not my mouth, because thou didst 
 it. Psalm xxxix. 9, saith David. Thus Aaron when 
 he had lost his two sons, both at once, and that by 
 fire, Lev. x. 1,2, and by fire from heaven, which car- 
 ried an evidence of God's great displeasure with it, 
 yet held his peace. In this silence and hope is our 
 strength. Flesh and blood is prone to expostulate 
 with God, and to question his deahng, as we see in 
 Gideon, Jeremy, Asaph, Habakkuk, and others. If 
 the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen 
 us ? but after some struggling between the flesh and 
 the spirit the conclusion will be, yet howsoever mat- 
 ters go, God is good to Israel, Psalm Ixxiii. 1. 
 Where a fearful spirit, and a melancholy temper, a 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 163 
 
 weak judgment, and a scrupulous and raw conscience 
 meet in one, there Satan and his, together with men's 
 own hearts, which hke sophisters are continually ca- 
 villing against themselves, breed much disquiet, and 
 make the life uncomfortable. Such therefore should 
 have a special care as to grow in knowledge, so to 
 stick close to sure and certain grounds, and bring 
 their consciences to the rule. Darkness causeth 
 fears. The more light, the more confidence. When 
 we yield up ourselves to God, we should resolve upon 
 quietness, and if the heart stirs, presently use this 
 check of David, Why art thou disquieted ? 
 
 God's ways seem oft to us full of contradictions, 
 because his course is to bring things to pass by con- 
 trary means. There is a mystery not only in God's 
 decree concerning man's eternal estate, but likewise 
 in his providence, as why he should deal unequally 
 with men, otherwise equal. His judgments are a 
 great depth, which we cannot fathom, but they will 
 swallow up our thoughts and understandings. God 
 oft wraps himself in a cloud, and will not be seen till 
 afterward. Where we cannot trace him, we ought 
 with Saint Paul to admire and adore him. When we 
 are in heaven, it will be one part of our happiness, to 
 see the harmony of those things that seem now con- 
 fused unto us. All God's dealings will appear beau- 
 tiful in their due seasons, though we for the present 
 see not the contiguity and linking together of one 
 thing with another. 
 
 2. Hence likewise proceeds a holy resigning of our- 
 selves to God, who doth all things according to the 
 counsel of his own will. His will is a wise will, it 
 is guided by counsel, a sovereign prevailing will. 
 The only way to have our will is to bring it to God's 
 
164 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 will. If we could delight in him, we should have our 
 heart's desire. Thus David yields up himself to God ; 
 Here I am, let the Lord deal with me as seemeth 
 good unto him, 2 Sam. xv. 26. And thus Eli, when 
 God foretold by Samuel the ruin of his house, quiets 
 himself, It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him 
 good, 1 Sam. iii. 18. Thus our blessed Saviour stays 
 himself. Not my will, but thy will be done. And 
 thus the people of God, when Paul was resolved to 
 go to Jerusalem, submitted, saying. The will of the 
 Lord be done. Acts xxi. 14 ; a speech fit to proceed 
 out of the heart and mouth of a Christian. 
 . We may desire and long after a change of our con- 
 dition, when we look upon the grievance itself, but 
 yet remember still that it be with reservation, when 
 we look upon the will of God, as, Hoiv long, Lord, 
 holy and true, &c. Rev. vi. 10. Out of inferior rea- 
 sons we may with our Saviour desire a removal of the 
 cup ; but when we look to the supreme reason of 
 reasons, the will of God, here we must stoop and kiss 
 the rod. Thus humbling ourselves under his mighty 
 hand, w^hich by murmuring and fretting we may make 
 more heavy, but not take off, still adding new guilt 
 and puUing on new judgments. 
 
 3. The way patiently to suffer God's will, is to 
 inure ourselves first to do it. Passive obedience 
 springs from active. He that endures any thing will 
 endure it quietly, when he knows it is the will of God, 
 and considers that whatever befalls him comes from 
 his good pleasure. Those that have not inured them- 
 selves to the yoke of obedience, will never endure 
 the yoke of suffering, they fume and rage as a wild 
 boar in a net, as the prophet speaks. It is worth 
 the considering, to see two men of equal parts un- 
 der the same cross, how quietly and calmly the onq 
 
THE soul's conflict. 165 
 
 that establisheth his soul on Christ will bear his afflic- 
 tions, whereas the other rageth as a fool, and is more 
 beaten. 
 
 Nothing should displease us that pleaseth God : 
 neither should any thing be pleasing to us that dis- 
 pleaseth him. This conformity is the ground of com- 
 fort. Our own will takes away God, as much as in 
 it lies. If we acknowledge God in all our ways, he 
 will direct our paths, and lead us the way that tve 
 should go, Prov. iii. 6. The quarrel betwixt God 
 and us is taken up, when his will and our will are 
 one ; when we have sacrificed ourselves, and our wills 
 unto God ; when, as he is highest in himself, so his 
 will hath the highest place in our hearts. We find 
 by experience, that when our wills are so subdued, that 
 we delight to do what God would have us do, and to 
 be what God would have us be, that then sweet peace 
 presently riseth to the soul. 
 
 When we can say. Lord, if thou wilt have me poor 
 and disgraced, I am content to be so : if thou wilt 
 have me serve thee in this condition I am in, I will 
 gladly do so. It is enough to me that thou wouldst 
 have it so. I desire to yield readily, humbly, and 
 cheerfully, to thy disposing providence. Thus a godly 
 man says Amen to God's Ame7i, and puts hisj^a^ and 
 placet to God's. As the sea turns all rivers into its 
 own relish, so he turns all to his own spirit, and makes 
 whatsoever befalls him, an exercise of some virtue. A 
 heathen could say, that calamities did rule over men, 
 but a wise man hath a spirit overruling all calamities ; 
 much more a Christian. For a man to be in this 
 estate is to enjoy heaven in the world under heaven ; 
 God's kingdom comes where his will is thus done 
 and sufiered. 
 
 None feel more sweet experience of God's provi- 
 
166 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 dence than those that are most resolute in their obe- 
 dience. After we have ^ven glory to God in relying 
 upon his wisdom, power, and truth, we shall find him 
 employing these for our direction, assistance, and 
 bringing about of things to our desired issue, yea, 
 above whatever we looked for, or thought of. 
 
 In all cases that fall out, or that we can put to 
 ourselves, as in case of extremity, apposition, strange 
 accidents, desertion, and damps of spirit, ^c. here we 
 may take sanctuary, that we are in covenant with 
 him who sits at the stern, and rules all, and hath 
 committed the government of all things to his Son, 
 our brother, our Joseph, the second person in heaven. 
 We may be sure no hurt shall befall us, that he can 
 hinder; and what cannot he hinder that hath the 
 keys of hell and of death ? unto whom we are so 
 near that he carries our names in his breast, and on 
 his shoulders y as the high priest did those of the 
 twelve tribes. Though his church seems a widow 
 neglected, yet he will make the world know that she 
 hath a husband will right her in his good time. 
 
 But it may be demanded, What course is to be 
 taken for guidance of our lives in particular actions, 
 7vherein doubts may arise what is most agreeable to 
 the will of God ? 
 
 1. We must not put all carelessly upon a provi- 
 dence, but first consider what is our part, and so far 
 as God prevents us with light, and affords us helps 
 and means, we must not be faihng in our duty. We 
 should neither outrun, nor be wanting to providence. 
 But in perplexed cases, where the reasons on both 
 sides seem to be equally balanced, see whether part 
 make more for the main end, the glory of God, the 
 service of others, and advancement of our own spi- 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 167 
 
 ritual good. Some things are so clear and even, that 
 there is not a best between them, but one may be 
 done as well as the other, as when two ways equally 
 tend to one and the same place. 
 
 2. We are not our oiun, and therefore must not set 
 up ourselves. We must not consult with flesh and 
 blood either in ourselves or others, for self-love will 
 deprave all our actions, by setting before us corrupt 
 ends. It considers not what is best, but what is 
 safest. By-respects sway the balance the wrong way. 
 
 3. When thmgs are clear, and God's will is mani- 
 fest, further deliberation is dangerous, and for the 
 most part argues a false heart ; as we see in Balaam, 
 who though he knew God's mind, yet would be still 
 consulting, till God in judgment gave him up to what 
 his covetous heart led him unto. A man is not fit to 
 deliberate till his heart be purged of false aims ; for 
 else God will give him to the darkness of his own spi- 
 rit, and he will be always warping, unfit for any bias. 
 Where the aims are good, there God delighteth to re- 
 veal his good pleasure. Such a soul is level and suit- 
 able to any good counsel that shall be given, and 
 prepared to entertain it. In what measure any lust 
 is favoured, in that measure the soul is darkened. 
 Even wise Solomon, whilst he gave way to his lust, 
 had like to have lost his wisdom. 
 
 We must look to our place wherein God hath set 
 us ; if we be in subjection to others, their authority 
 ought to sway with us. Neither is it the calling of 
 those that are subjects, to enquire over curiously into 
 the mysteries of government ; for that, both in peace 
 and war, breeds much disturbance, and would trouble 
 all designs. 
 
 The laws under which we live, are particular de- 
 
168 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 terminations of the law of God in some duties of the 
 second table. For example ; the law of God says. 
 Exact no more than what is thy due. But what in 
 particular is thy due, and what another man's, the 
 laws of men determine, and therefore ouo:ht to be a 
 rule unto us so far as they reach ; though it be too 
 narrow a rule to be good only so far as man's laws 
 guide unto. Yet law being the joint reason and con- 
 sent of many men for pubhc good, hath a use for 
 guidance of all actions that fall under the same. 
 Where it dash not against God's law, what is agree- 
 able to law is agreeable to conscience. 
 
 The law of God in the due enlargement of it, to the 
 least beginning and occasions, is exceeding broad, 
 and allows of whatsoever stands with the light of rea- 
 son, or the bonds of humanity, civility, &c. and what- 
 soever is against these is so far against God's law. 
 So that higher rules be looked to in the first place, 
 there is nothing lovely, or praiseworthy among men, 
 but ought to be seriously thought on. 
 
 Nature of itself is wild and untamed, and impatient 
 of the yoke ; but as beasts that cannot endure the 
 yoke at first, after they are inured awhile unto it bear 
 it willingly, and carry their work more easily by it ; 
 so the yoke of obedience makes the life regular and 
 quiet. The meeting of authority and obedience toge- 
 ther maintains the order and peace of the world. 
 
 So of that question. 
 
 Though blindfold obedience, such as our adversa- 
 ries would have, be such as will never stand with sound 
 peace of conscience, which always looks to have light 
 to direct it (for else a bUnd conscience would breed 
 blind fears) ; yet in such doubtful cases wherein we can- 
 not wind out ourselves, we ought to light our candles 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. IW 
 
 at Others whom we have cause to think by their place 
 and parts should see further than we. In matters of 
 outward estate, we will have men skilful, of our coun- 
 sel ; and Christians would find more sound peace, if 
 they would advise with their godly and learned pastors 
 and friends. Where there is not a direct word, there 
 is place for the counsel of a prudent man. And it is 
 a happiness for them whose business is much, and 
 parts not large, to have the benefit of those that can 
 give aim, and see further than themselves. The 
 meanest Christian understands his own way, and 
 knows how to do things with better advantage to his 
 soul than a graceless though learned man ; yet is still 
 glad of further discovery. In counsel there is peace, 
 the thoughts being thus established. 
 
 When we have advised and served God's provi- 
 dence in the use of means, then if it fall out otherwise 
 than we look for, we may confidently conclude, that 
 God would not have it so, otherwise to our grief we 
 may say, it was the fruit of our own rashness. 
 
 Where we have cause to think that we have used 
 better means in the search of grounds, and are more 
 free from partial affections than others, there we may 
 use our own advice more safely. Otherwise what we 
 do by consent from others, is more secure and less 
 offensive, as being more countenanced. 
 
 In advice with others, it is not sufficient to be ge- 
 nerally wise, but experienced and knowing in that we 
 ask, which is an honour to God's gifts where we find 
 them in any kind. When we set about things in 
 passion, we work not as men or Christians, but in a 
 bestial manner. The more passion, the less discre- 
 tion ; because passion hinders the sight of what is to 
 be done. It clouds the soul, and puts it on to action 
 
 
170 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 without advisement. Where passions are subdued, 
 and the soul purged and cleared, there is nothing to 
 hinder the impression of God's Spirit ; the soul is 
 fitted as a clean glass to receive light from above. 
 And that is the reason why mortified men are fittest 
 to advise with in the particular cases incident to a 
 Christian life. 
 
 After all advice, extract what is fittest ; and what 
 our spirits do most bend unto : for in things that 
 concern ourselves, God affords a light to discern out 
 of what is spoken, what best suiteth us. And every 
 man is to follow most what his own conscience (after 
 information) dictates unto him ; because conscience 
 is God's deputy in us, and under God most to be re- 
 garded, and whosoever sins against it, in his own 
 construction sins against God. God vouchsafeth 
 every Christian in some degree, the grace of spiritual 
 prudence, whereby they are enabled to discern what 
 is fittest to be done in things that fall within their 
 compass. 
 
 It is good to observe the particular becks of provi- 
 dence, how things join and meet together : fit occa- 
 sions and suiting of things are intimations of God's 
 will. Providence hath a language, which is well un- 
 derstood by those that have a familiar acquaintance 
 with God's dealing, they see a train of providence, 
 leading one way more than to another. 
 
 Take especial heed of not grieving the Spirit, when 
 he oflPers to be our guide, by studying evasions, and 
 wishing the case were otherwise. This is to be law- 
 givers to ourselves, thinking that we are wiser than 
 God, the use of discretion is not to direct us about 
 the end, whether we should do well or ill (for a single 
 heart always aims at good) ; but when we resolve 
 
THE soul's conflict. 171 
 
 upon doing well, and yet doubt of the manner how 
 to perform it, discretion looks not so much to what is 
 lawful (for that is taken for granted), but what is most 
 expedient. A discreet man looks not to what is 
 best, so much as what is fittest in such and such re- 
 spects, by eying circumstances, which, if they sort not, 
 do vary the nature of the thing itself. 
 
 And because it is not in man to know his own 
 ways, we should look up unto Christ, the great Coun- 
 sellor of his Church, to vouchsafe the spirit of counsel 
 and direction to us ; that may make our way plain 
 before us, by suggesting unto us, this is the way, 
 walk in it. We owe God this respect, to depend 
 upon him for direction in the particular passages of 
 our lives, in regard that he is our sovereign, and his 
 will is the rule, and we are to be accountable to him 
 as our judge. It is God only that can see through 
 businesses, and all helps and lets that stand about. 
 
 After we have rolled ourselves upon God, we 
 should immediately take that course he inclines our 
 hearts unto, without further distracting fear. Other- 
 wise it is a sign we commit not our way to hiniy when 
 we do not quietly trust him, but remain still as 
 thoughtful, as if we did not trust him. After prayer 
 and trust follows the peace of God, Phil. ii. 4, and a 
 heart void of further dividing care. We should there- 
 fore presently question our hearts, for questioning his 
 care, and not regard what fear will be ready to sug- 
 gest, for that is apt to raise conclusions against our- 
 selves, out of self-conceited grounds, whereby we 
 usurp upon God, and wrong ourselves. 
 
 It was a good resolution of the three young men in 
 Daniel, We are not careful to answer thee, king, 
 Dan. iii. We know our duty, let God do with us as 
 
172 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 he pleaseth. If Abraham had hearkened to the voice 
 of nature, he would never have resolved to sacrifice 
 Isaac, but because he cast himself upon God's pro- 
 viding, God in the mount provided a ram instead of 
 his son. 
 
 CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 Other grounds of trusting in God: namely ^ the Pro- 
 mises. And twelve directions about the same, 
 
 § I. T)UT for the better setthng of our trust in 
 jLJ God, a further discovery is necessary than 
 of the nature and providence of God ; for though the 
 nature of God be written in the book of the creatures 
 in so great letters, as he that runs may read ; and 
 though the providence of God appears in the order 
 and use of things : yet there is another book whereby 
 to know the will of God towards us, and our duty to- 
 wards him : we must therefore have a knowledge of 
 the promises of God, as well as of his providence, for 
 though God hath discovered himself most graciously 
 in Christ unto us, yet had we not a word of promise, 
 we could not have the boldness to build upon Christ 
 himself; therefore, from the same grounds, that there 
 is a Gody there must be a reveaUng of the will of God, 
 for else we can never have any firm trust in him fur- 
 ther than he offers himself to be trusted ; therefore 
 hath God opened his heart to us in his word, and 
 reached out so many sweet promises for us to lay hold 
 on, and stooped so low, by gracious condescending 
 mixed with authority, as to enter into a covenant 
 with us to perform all things for our good : for pro- 
 mises are, as it were, the stay of the soul in an im- 
 perfect condition, and so is faith in them until all 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 173 
 
 promises shall end in performance, and faith in sight, 
 and hope in possession. 
 
 Now these promises are, 1. for their spring from 
 whence they proceed, yree engagements of God ; for if 
 he had not bound himself, who could ? and 2. they are 
 for their value precious ; and 3. for their extent large, 
 even of all things that conduce to happiness ; and 4. 
 for their virtue quickening and strengthening the soul, 
 as coming from the love of God, and conveying that 
 love unto us by his Spirit in the best fruits thereof; 
 and 5. for their certainty, they are as sure as the love of 
 God in Christ is, upon which they are founded, and 
 from which nothing can separate us, Rom. viii. 39. 
 For all promises are either Christ himself, the pro- 
 mised seed, or else they are of good things made to us 
 in him and for him, and accomplished for his sake ; 
 they are all made first to him as heir of the promise, 
 as Angel of the Covenant, as head of his body, and 
 as our elder brother, &c. for promises being the fruits 
 of God's love, and God's love being founded first on 
 Christ, it must needs follow that all the promises are 
 both made, and made good to us in and through him, 
 who is yesterday and to-day, and for ever the same, 
 Heb. xiii. 8. 
 
 That we should not call God's love into question, 
 he not only gives us his word, but a binding word, his 
 promise; and not only a naked promise, but hath 
 entered into covenant with us, founded upon full 
 satisfaction by the blood of Christ, and unto this co- 
 venant sealed by the blood of the Lord Jesus, he hath 
 added the seals of sacraments, and unto this he hath 
 added his oath, that there might be no place left of 
 doubting to the distrustful heart of man ; there is no 
 way of securing promises amongst men, but God hath 
 
174 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 taken the same to himself, and all to this end that 
 we might not only know his mind towards us, but be 
 fully persuaded of it, that as verily as he lives, he will 
 make good whatever he hath promised for the comfort 
 of his children. What greater assurance can there 
 be, than for being itself to lay his being to pawn ? 
 and for life itself to lay hfe to pawn, and all to com- 
 fort a poor soul ? 
 
 The boundless and restless desire of man's spirit 
 will never be stayed without some discovery of the 
 chief good, and the way to attain the same : men 
 would have been in darkness about their final con- 
 dition, and the way to please God, and to pacify and 
 purge their consciences, had not the word of God set 
 down the spring and cause of all evil, together with 
 the cure of it, and directed us how to have commu- 
 nion with God, and to raise ourselves above all the 
 evil which we meet withal betwixt us and happiness, 
 and to make us every way wise to salvation. Hence 
 it is that the psalmist prefers the manifestation of 
 God by his word, before the manifestation of him in 
 his most glorious works, Psalm xix. 7. 
 
 And thus we see the necessity of a double principle 
 for faith to rely on : 1. God, and 2. the word of God 
 reveaUng his will unto us, and directing us to make 
 use of all his attributes, relations, and providence for 
 our good ; and this word hath its strength from him 
 who gives a being and an accomplishment unto it ; 
 for words are as the authority of him that uttereth 
 them is ; when we look upon a grant in the word of a 
 king, it stays our minds, because we know he is able 
 to make it good ; and why should it not satisfy our 
 souls to look upon promises in the word of a God ? 
 whose words, as they come from his truth and ex- 
 
THE soul's conflict. 175 
 
 press his goodness, so they are all made good by his 
 power and wisdom. 
 
 By the bare word of God it is that the heavens 
 continue, and the earth (without any other foundation) 
 hangs in the midst of the world, therefore well may 
 the soul stay itself on that, even when it hath nothing 
 else in sight to rely upon ; by his word it is that the 
 covenant of day and night, and the preservation of 
 the world from any further overflowing of waters 
 continueth ; which if it should fail, yet his covenant 
 with his people shall abide firm for ever, though the 
 whole frame of nature were dissolved. 
 
 When we have thus gotten a fit foundation for th^ 
 soul to lay itself upon, our next care must be (by 
 trusting) to build on the same ; all our misery is 
 either in having a false foundation, or else in loose 
 building upon a true ; therefore having so strong a 
 ground as God's nature, his providence, his promise, 
 &c. to build upon, the only way for establishing our 
 souls is, by trust, to rely firmly on him. 
 
 Now the reason why trust is so much required, is 
 because 1. it emptieth the soul, and 2. by emptying 
 enlargeth it, and 3. seasoneth and fitteth the soul to 
 join with so gracious an object, and 4. filleth it by 
 carrying it out of itself unto God, who presently, so 
 soon as he is trusted in, conveys himself and his 
 goodness to the soul ; and thus we come to have the 
 comfort, and God the glory of all his excellencies. 
 Thus salvation comes to be sure unto us, whilst faith, 
 looking to the promises, and to God freely offering 
 grace therein, resigns up itself to God, making no 
 further question from any unworthiness of its own. 
 
 And thus we return to God by cleaving to him, 
 from whom we fell by distrust, living under a new 
 
176 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 covenant merely of grace, Jer, xxxi. 3 ; and no grace 
 fitter than that which gives all to Christ, considering 
 the fountain of all our good is (out of ourselves) in 
 him, it being safest for us, who were so ill husbands 
 at the first, that it should be so, therefore it is fit we 
 should have use of such a grace that will carry us out 
 of ourselves to the spring head. 
 
 The way then whereby faith quieteth the soul, is by 
 raising it above all discontentments and storms here 
 below, and pitching it upon God, thereby uniting it 
 to him, whence it draws virtue to oppose and bring 
 under whatsoever troubles its peace. For the soul is 
 made for God, and never finds rest till it returns to 
 him again ; when God and the soul meet, there will 
 follow contentment ; God, simply considered, is not 
 all our happiness, but God as trusted in ; and Christ 
 as we are made one with him. Matt. ix. 20 ; the soul 
 cannot so much as touch the hem of Christ's gar- 
 ment, but it shall find virtue coming from him to 
 sanctify and settle it ; God in Christ is full of all that 
 is good ; when the soul is emptied, enlarged, and 
 opened by faith to receive goodness oftered, there 
 must needs follow sweet satisfaction. 
 
 § II. For the better strengthening of our trust it is 
 not sufficient that we trust in God and his truth re- 
 vealed, but we must do it by light and strength from 
 him : many believe in the truth by human argu- 
 ments, but no arguments will convince the soul but 
 such as are fetched from the inward nature, and pow- 
 erful work of truth itself; no man can know God, 
 but by God ; none can know the sun, but by its own 
 light; none can know the truth of God (so as to 
 build upon it) but by the truth itself and the Spirit 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 177 
 
 revealing it by its own light to the soul ; that soul 
 which hath felt the power of truth in casting it down, 
 and raising it up again, will easily be brought to rest 
 upon it; it is neither education, nor the authority of 
 others that profess the same truth, or that we have 
 been so taught by men of great parts, &c. will settle 
 the heart ; until we find an inward power and autho- 
 rity in the truth itself shining in our hearts by its own 
 beams ; hence comes unsettledness in time of troubles, 
 because we have not a spiritual discerning of spiritual 
 things. Supernatural truths must have a supernatu- 
 ral power to apprehend them, therefore God createth 
 a spiritual eye and hand of the soul, which is faith. 
 
 In those that are truly converted, all saving truths 
 are transcribed out of the Scripture into their hearts, 
 they are taught of God, Isa. liv. 13 ; so as they find 
 all truths both concerning the sinful estate, and the 
 gracious and happy estate of man in themselves ; they 
 carry a divinity in them and about them, so as from a 
 saving feehngthey can speak of conversion, of sin, of 
 grace, and the comforts of the Spirit, &c. and from 
 this acquaintance are ready to yield and give up 
 themselves to truth revealed and to God speaking by 
 it. Trust is never sound but upon a spiritual convic- 
 tion of the truth and goodness we rely upon, for the 
 effecting of which the Spirit of God must likewise 
 subdue the rebellion and mahce of our will, that so it 
 may be suitable and level to divine things, and relish 
 them as they are; we must apprehend the love of 
 God and the fruits of it as better than life itself, and 
 then choosing and cleaving to the same will soon fol- 
 low ; for as there is a fitness in divine truths to all 
 the necessities of the soul, so the soul must be fitted 
 by them to savour and apply them to itself; and 
 
 N 
 
178 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 then from a harmony between the soul and that 
 which it appHes itself unto, there will follow not only 
 peace in the soul, but joy and delight surpassing any 
 contentment in the world besides. 
 
 As there is in God to satisfy the whole soul, so 
 trust carries the whole soul to God ; this makes trust 
 not so easy a matter, because there must be an exer- 
 cise of every faculty of the soul, or else our trust is 
 imperfect and lame, there must be a knowledge of him 
 whom we trust, and why we trust an affiance and 
 love, &c. Only they that know God will trust in 
 him ; not that knowledge alone is sufficient, but be- 
 cause the sweetness of God's love is let into the soul 
 thereby, wiiich draweth the whole soul to him ; we 
 are bidden to trust perfectly in God ; therefore see- 
 ing we have a God so full of perfection to trust in, 
 we should labour to trust perfectly in him. 
 
 And it is good for the exercise of trust to put cases 
 to ourselves of things that probably may fall out, and 
 then return to our souls to search what strength we 
 have if such things should come to pass ; thus David 
 puts cases ; perfect faith dares put the hardest cases 
 to its soul, and then set God against all that may 
 befall it, Psalm iii. 6 ; xlvi. 3 ; xxvii. 3. 
 
 Again, labour to fit the promise to every condition 
 thou art in ; there is no condition but hath a promise 
 suitable; therefore no condition but wherein God 
 may be trusted, because his truth and goodness is al- 
 ways the same ; and in the promise, look both to the 
 good promised, and to the faithfulness and love of 
 the promiser ; it is not good to look upon the diffi- 
 culty of the thing we have a promise against, but who 
 promiseth it, and for whose sake, and so see all good 
 things in Christ made over to us. 
 
THE soul's conflict. 179 
 
 We should labour likewise for a single heart to trust 
 in God only ; there is no readier way to fall than to 
 trust equally to two stays, whereof one is rotten, and 
 the other sound ; therefore as in point of doctrine we 
 are to rely upon Christ only, and to make the Scrip- 
 tures our rule only ; so in life and conversation, what- 
 ever we make use of, yet we should enjoy and rely 
 upon God only ; for either God is trusted alone, or 
 not at all ; those that trust to other things with God, 
 trust not him but upon pretence to carry their double 
 minds with less check. 
 
 Again, labour that thy soul may answer all the re- 
 lations wherein it stands to God, by cleaving to him, 
 1 . as a Father by trusting on his care, 2. as a Teacher 
 by following his direction, 3. as a Creator by depen- 
 dence on him, 4. as a Husband by inseparable affec- 
 tion of love to him, 5. as a Lord by obedience, &c. 
 And then we may with comfort expect whatsoever 
 good these relations can yield ? all which God regard- 
 ing more our wants and weaknesses, than his own 
 greatness, hath taken upon him. Shall these rela- 
 tions yield comfort from the creature, and not from 
 God himself, in whom they are in their highest per- 
 fection ? shall God make other fathers and husbands 
 faithful, and not be faithful himself? all our comfort 
 depends upon labouring to make these relations good 
 to our souls. 
 
 And as we must wholly and only trust in God, so 
 likewise we must trust him in all conditions and times, 
 for all things that we stand in need of, until that time 
 comes, wherein we shall stand in need of nothing : 
 for as the same care of God moved him to save us, 
 and to preserve us in the world till we be put in pos- 
 session of salvation ; so the same faith relies upon 
 
180 THE SOTJL^S CONFLICT. 
 
 God for heaven and all necessary provision till we 
 come thither; it is the office of faith to quiet our 
 souls in all the necessities of this life, and we have 
 continual use of trusting while we are here : for even 
 when we have thing^s, yet God still keeps the blessing 
 of them in his own hands, to hold us in a continual 
 dependence upon him : God trains us up this wav, 
 by exercising cur trust in lesser matters, to fit us for 
 greater; thus it pleaseth God to keep us in a de- 
 pending condition until he see his own time ; but so 
 good is God that as he intends to give us what we 
 w^ait for, so will he give us the grace and spirit of 
 faith, to sustain our souls in waiting till we enjoy the 
 same. The unruliness of a natural spirit is never dis- 
 covered more, than when God defers, therefore we 
 should labour the more not to withdraw our attendance 
 from God. 
 
 Further, we must know that the condition of a 
 Christian in this life, is not to see what he trusts God 
 for : he lives by faith, and not by sight : and yet 
 that there is such a virtue in faith, which makes evi- 
 dent and present, things to come and unseen : because 
 God where he gives an eye of faith, gives also a glass 
 of the word to see things in, and by seeing of them in 
 the truth and power of him that promiseth, they be- 
 come present, not only to the understanding to ap- 
 prehend them, but to the will to rest upon them, and 
 to the affections to joy in them : it is the nature of 
 faith to work, when it seeth nothing, and oftentimes 
 best of all then, because God shows himself more 
 clearly in his power, wisdom, and goodness, at such 
 times ; and so his glory shines most, and faith hath 
 nothing else to look upon then, whereupon it gathers 
 all the forces of the soul together, to fasten upon God, 
 
THE soul's conflict. 181 
 
 It should therefore be the chief care of a Christian 
 to strengthen his faith, that so it may answer God's 
 manner of deahng with him in the worst times ; for 
 God usually (1. that he might perfectly mortify our 
 confidence in the creature, and 2. that he might the 
 more endear his favours and make them fresh and 
 new unto us, and 3. that the glory of deliverance may 
 be entirely his, without the creatures sharing witli 
 him, and 4. that our faith and obedience may be tried 
 to the uttermost, and discovered) suffers his children 
 to fall into o;reat extremities before he will reach forth 
 his hand to help them, as in Job's case, &c. There- 
 fore Christians should much labour their hearts to 
 trust in God in the deepest extremities that may befall 
 them, even when no light of comfort appears either 
 from within or without, yea then (especially) when all 
 other comforts fail ; despair is oft the ground of hope, 
 Isa. 1. 10; when the darkness of the night is thickest, 
 then the morning begins to dawn ; that which (to a 
 man unacquainted with God's dealings) is a ground 
 of utter despair, the same (to a man acquainted with 
 the ways of God) is a rise of exceeding comfort ; for 
 infinite power and goodness can never be at a loss, 
 neither can faith which looks to that, ever be at a 
 stand, whence it is that both God and faith work best 
 alone ; in a hopeless estate a Christian will see some 
 door of hope opened, 1. because God shows himself 
 nearest to us, when we stand most in need of him ; 
 Helpy Lord, for vain is the help of man : God is 
 never more seen than in the mount ; He knows our 
 souls best, and our souls know him best in adversity. 
 Psalm xxxi. 7 ; then he is most wonderful in his 
 saints. 2. Because our prayers then are (strong cries) 
 fervent and frequent ; God is sure to hear of us at 
 
182 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 such a time, which pleaseth him well, as delighting to 
 hear the voice of his beloved. 
 
 For our better encouragement in these sad times, 
 and to help our trust in God the more, we should 
 often call to mind the former experiences, which either 
 ourselves or others have had of God's goodness, and 
 make use of the same for our spiritual good ; Our 
 fathers trusted in ^^ee,saith the head of the church, 
 and were not confounded ; God's truth and goodness 
 is unchangeable, he never leaves those that trust in 
 him ; so likewise in our own experiences, we should 
 take notice of God's dealings with us in sundry 
 kinds; how many ways he hath refreshed us, and 
 how good we have found him in our worst times ; 
 after we have once tried him and his truth, we may 
 safely trust him ; God will stand upon his credit, he 
 never failed any yet, and he will not begin to break 
 with us ; if his nature and his word, and his former 
 dealing hath been sure and square, why should our 
 hearts be wavering ? Thy word, saith the Psalmist, is 
 very pure (or tried), therefore thy servant loveth it ; 
 the word of God is as silver tried in the furnace, pu- 
 rified seven times ; it is good therefore to observe and 
 lay up God's dealings ; experience is nothing else 
 but a multiplied remembrance of former blessings, 
 which will help to multiply our faith ; tried truth and 
 tried faith unto it, sweetly agree and answer one 
 another ; it were a course much tending to the quick- 
 ening of the faith of Christians, if they would commu- 
 nicate one to another their mutual experiences ; this 
 hath formerly been the custom of God's people. Come 
 and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare 
 what he hath done for my soul ; and David urgeth 
 this as a reason to God for deliverance, that then the 
 
THE SOUL*S CONFLICT. 183 
 
 righteous would compass him about, as rejoicing in 
 the experience of God's goodness to him ; the want 
 of this makes us upon any new trial to call God's care 
 and love into question, as if he had never formerly 
 been good unto us ; whereas every experiment of 
 God's love should refresh our faith upon any fresh 
 onset ; God is so good to his children even in this 
 world, that he trains them up by daily renewed ex- 
 periences of his fatherly care ; for besides those many 
 promises of good things to come, he gives us some 
 evidence and taste of what we believe here ; that by 
 that which we feel we might be strengthened in that 
 we look for, that so in both (l. sense of what we feel, 
 and 2. certainty of what we look for) we might have 
 full support. 
 
 But yet we must trust God, as he will be trusted, 
 (namely, in doing good ;) or else we do not trust him 
 but tempt him. Our commanding of our souls to 
 trust in God, is but an echo of what God commands 
 us first ; and therefore in the same manner he com- 
 mands us, we should command ourselves. As God 
 commands us to trust him in doing good, so should 
 we commit our souls to him in well doing, and trust 
 him when we are about his own works, and not in the 
 works of darkness ; we may safely expect God in his 
 ways of mercy, when we are in his ways of obedience ; 
 for religion as it is a doctrine of what is to be believed, 
 so it is a doctrine according to godliness ; and the 
 mysteries of faith are mysteries of godliness, because 
 they cannot be believed, but they will enforce a godly 
 conversation ; where any true impression of them is, 
 there is holiness always bred in that soul ; therefore 
 a study of holiness must go jointly together, with a 
 study of trusting in God ; faith looks not only to pro- 
 
184 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 mises, but to directions to duty, and breeds in the 
 soul a liking of whatsoever pleaseth God ; there is a 
 mutual strengthening in things that are good, trusting 
 stirs to duty, and duty strengthens trusting by in- 
 creasing our hberty and boldness with God. 
 
 Again, we must maintain in our souls, a high es- 
 teem of the grace o^ faith ; the very trial whereof is 
 7)iore precious than gold, 1 Pet. i. 7 ; what then is the 
 grace of faith itself, and the promises which it layeth 
 hold on ? certainly they transcend in worth whatever 
 may draw us from God ; whence it is that the soul sets 
 a high price upon them, and on faith that believes 
 them ; it is impossible that any thing in the world 
 should come betwixt the heart and those things, if 
 once we truly lay hold on them, to undermine faith 
 or the comfort we have by it ; the heart is never 
 drawn to any sinful vanity, or frighted with any ter- 
 ror of trouble, till faith first loseth the sight and esti- 
 mation of divine things, and forgets the necessity and 
 excellency of them. Our Saviour, Christ, when he 
 would stir up a desire o^ faith in his disciples, Luke 
 xvii. 6, showed them the power and excellency of the 
 same ; great things stir up faith, and keep it above, 
 and faith keeps the soul that nothing else can take 
 place of abode in it ; when the great things of God 
 are brought into the heart by faith, what is there in 
 the whole world that can out-bid them ? assurance 
 of these things, upon spiritual grounds, overrules 
 both sense and reason, or whatever else prevails with 
 carnal hearts. 
 
 i 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 CHAP. XIX. 
 
 Faith to be prized, and other things undervalued, 
 at least not to he trusted to as the chief. 
 
 THAT faith may take the better place in the soul 
 and the soul in God, the heart must continually 
 be taught of what little worth all things else are, as 
 reputation, riches, and pleasures, &c. ; and to see 
 their nothingness in the word of God, and inexpe- 
 rience of ourselves and others, that so our heart 
 being weaned from these things, may open itself to 
 God, and embrace things of a higher nature ; other- 
 wise baser things will be nearer thy soul than faith, 
 and keep possession against it, so that faith will not 
 be suffered to set up a throne in the heart; there 
 must be an unloosing of the heart, as well as a fasten- 
 ing of it, and God helps us in both : for, besides the 
 word discovering the vanity of all things else out of 
 God, the main scope of God's dealing with his chil- 
 dren in any danger or affliction whatsoever, is to 
 imbitter all other things but himself unto them : in- 
 deed it is the power of God properly which makes 
 the heart to trust, but yet the Spirit of God useth 
 this way to bring all things else out of request with 
 us in comparison of those inestimable good things, 
 which the soul is created, redeemed, and sanctified 
 for ; God is very jealous of our trust, and can endure 
 no idol of jealousy to be set up in our hearts. There- 
 fore it behoves us to take notice, not only of the de- 
 ceitfulness of things, but of the deceitfulness of our 
 hearts in the use of them ; our hearts naturally hang 
 loose from God, and are soon ready to join with the 
 creature ; now the more we observe our hearts in 
 
186 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 this, the more we take them off, and labour to set 
 them where they should be placed ; for the more we 
 know these things, the less we shall trust them. 
 
 But may we not trust in riches, and friends, and 
 other outward helps at all ? 
 
 Yes, so far as they are subordinate to God, our chief 
 stay, with reservation and submission to the Lord ; 
 only so far, and so long as it shall please him to use 
 them for our good. Because God ordinarily conveys 
 his help and goodness to us by some creature ; we 
 must trust in God to bless every mercy we enjoy, and 
 to make all helps serviceable to his love towards us. 
 In a word, we must trust and use them in and under 
 God, and so as if all were taken away, yet to think 
 God (being all-sufficient) can do without them, what- 
 soever he doth by them for our good. Faith preserves 
 the chastity of the soul, and cleaving to God is a 
 spiritual debt which it oweth to him, whereas cleaving 
 to the creature is spiritual adultery. 
 
 It is an error in the foundation to substitute false 
 objects either in religion, or in Christian conversation ; 
 for 1. in religion trusting in false objects, as saints, 
 and works, &c. breeds false worship, and false wor- 
 ship breeds idolatry, and so God's jealousy and 
 hatred. 2. In Christian conversation false objects of 
 trust breed false comforts, and true fears ; for in 
 what measure we trust in any thing that is uncertain, 
 in the same measure will our grief be when it fails us ; 
 the more men rely upon deceitful crutches, the greater 
 is their fall ; God can neither endure false objects, 
 nor a doable object, as hath been showed, for a man 
 to rely upon any thing equally in the same rank with 
 himself; for the propounding of a double object, 
 argues a double heart, and a double heart is always 
 
THE soul's conflict. 187 
 
 unsettled, James i. 8, for it will regard God no longer 
 than it can enjoy that which it joins together with 
 liim ; therefore it is said, you cannot serve two mas- 
 ters^ Luke xvi. 13, not subordinate one to another ; 
 whence it was that our Saviour told those worldly 
 men which followed him : that they could not believe 
 in him, because they sought honour one of another, 
 Jolm V. 44 ; and in case of competition, if their honour 
 and reputation should come into question, they would 
 be sure to be false to Christ, and rather part with 
 him than their own credit and esteem in the world. 
 
 David here, by charging his soul to trust in God, 
 saw there was nothing else tliat could bring true rest 
 and quiet unto him ; for whatsoever is besides God, 
 is but a creature ; and whatever is in the creature is 
 but borrowed, and at God's disposing ; and chang- 
 able, or else it were not a creature ; David saw his 
 error soon, for the ground of his disquiet was trusting 
 something else besides God, therefore when he began 
 to say. My hill is strong^ I shall not be moved, Sec, 
 Psalm XXX. 6 ; then presently his soul was troubled. 
 Out of God there is nothing fit for the soul to stay 
 itself upon ; for 
 
 1. Outward things are not fitted to the spiritual 
 nature of the soul ; they are dead things and cannot 
 touch it being a lively spirit, unless by way of taint. 
 
 2. They are beneath the worth of the soul, and 
 therefore debase the soul, and draw it lower than it- 
 self. As a noble woman, by matching with a mean 
 person, much injures herself, especially when higher 
 matches are offered. Earthly things are not given 
 for stays wholly to rest on, but for comforts in our 
 way to Heaven ; they are no more fit for the soul, 
 than that which hath many angles is fit to fill up that 
 
188 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 which is round, which it cannot do, because of the 
 unevenness and void places that will remain ; outward 
 things are never so well fitted for the soul, but that 
 the soul will presently see some voidness and empti- 
 ness in them, and in itself in cleaving to them ; for 
 that which shall be a fit object for the soul, must be 
 
 1. for the nature of it spiritual, as the soul itself is ; 
 
 2. constant ; 3. full and satisfying ; 4. of equal con- 
 tinuance with it; and 5. always yielding fresh con- 
 tents : we cast away flowers, after once we have had 
 the sweetness of them, because there is not still a 
 fresh supply of sweetness. Whatever comfort is in 
 the creature, the soul will spend quickly, and look 
 still for more ; whereas the comfort we have in God 
 is undefiled andfadeth not away ; how can we trust 
 to that for comfort, which by very trusting proves un- 
 comfortable to us? outward things are only so far 
 forth good, as we do not trust in them ; thorns may 
 be touched, but not rested on, for then they will 
 pierce ; we must not set our hearts upon things which 
 are never evil to us, but when we set our hearts upon 
 them, Psalm Ixii. 10. 
 
 By trusting anything but God, we make it 1. an 
 idol ; 2. a curse, and not a blessing ; 3. it will prove 
 a lying vanity, not yielding that good which we look 
 for ; and 4. a vexation, bringing that evil upon us we 
 look not for. 
 
 Of all men Solomon was the fittest to judge of this, 
 because 1. he had a large heart able to comprehend 
 the variety of things ; and 2. being a mighty king, 
 had advantages of procuring all outward things that 
 might give him satisfaction; and 3. he had a desire 
 answerable, to search out and extract whatever good 
 the creature could yield ; and yet upon the trial of 
 
THE SOUL S CONFIJCT. 189 
 
 ?ill, he passeth this verdict upon all, that they are but 
 vanity, Eccles. i. 2 ; whilst he laboured to find that 
 which he sought for in them, he had like to have lost 
 himself ; and seeking too much to strengthen himself 
 by foreign combination, he weakened himself the 
 more thereby, until he came to know where the whole 
 of man consists, Eccles. xii. 13. So that now we 
 need not try further conclusions after the peremptory 
 sentence of so wise a man. 
 
 But our nature is still apt to think there is some 
 secret good in the forbidden fruit, and to buy wisdom 
 dearly when we might have it at a cheaper rate, even 
 from former universal experience. 
 
 It is a matter both to be wondered at and pitied, 
 that the soul having God in Christ set before it, allur- 
 ing it unto him, that he might raise it, enlarge it, and 
 till it, and so make it above all other things, should 
 yet debase and make itself narrower and weaker, by 
 leaning to things meaner than itself. 
 
 The kingdom, sovereignty, and large command of 
 man, continueth while he rests upon God, in whom 
 he reigns, in some sort, over all things under him ; 
 but so soon as he removes from God to anything 
 else, he becomes weak and narrow and slavish pre- 
 sently ; for, 
 
 The soul is as that which it relies upon ; if on 
 vanity, itself becomes vain ; for that which contents 
 the soul must satisfy all the wants and desires of it, 
 which no particular thing can do, and the soul is 
 more sensible of a little thing that it wants, than of 
 all other things which it enjoys. 
 
 But see the insufficiency of all other things (out of 
 God) to support the soul, in their several degrees. 
 First, all outward things can make a man no happier 
 
190 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 than outward things can do, they cannot reach be- 
 yond their proper sphere : but our greatest grievances 
 are spiritual. And as for inward things, whether 
 gifts or graces, they cannot be a sufficient stay for 
 the mind ; for 1. gifts as poUcy and wisdom, &c. they 
 are at the best very defective, especially when we 
 trust in them ; for wisdom makes men often to rebel, 
 and thereupon God delighteth to blast their projects : 
 none miscarry oftener than men of the greatest parts ; 
 as none are oftener drowned than those that are most 
 skilful in swimming, because it makes them confi- 
 dent. 
 
 And for grace, though it be the beginning of a new 
 creature in us, yet it is but a creature, and therefore 
 not to be trusted in, nay, by trusting in it we imbase 
 it, and make it more imperfect; so far as there is 
 truth of grace, it breeds distrust of ourselves, and 
 carries the soul out of itself to the fountain of 
 strength. 
 
 And for any works that proceed from grace, by 
 trusting thereunto they prove like the reed of Egypt, 
 which not only deceives us, but hurts us with the 
 splinters : good works are good, but confidence in 
 them is hurtful ; and there is more of our own in 
 them (for the most part) to humble us, than of God's 
 Spirit to embolden us so far as to trust in them. 
 Alas, they have nothing from us but weakness and 
 defilement, and therefore since the fall, God would 
 have the object of our trust to be (out of ourselves) in 
 him ; and to that purpose he useth all means to take 
 us out of ourselves, and from the creature, that he 
 only might be our trust. 
 
 Yea, we must not trust itself, but God whom it relies 
 on, who is therefore called our trust. All the glo- 
 
THE SOUL*S CONFLICT. 191 
 
 rious things that are spoken of trust are only made 
 ^ood by God in Christ, who, as trusted, doth all 
 for us. 
 
 God hath prescribed trust as the way to carry our 
 souls to himself, in whom we should only rely, and 
 not in our imperfect trust, which hath its ebbing and 
 flowing ; neither will trust in God himself for the pre- 
 sent suffice us for future strength and grace, as if 
 trusting in God to-day would suffice to strengthen us 
 for to-morrow ; but we must renew our trust for fresh 
 supply, upon every fresh occasion. So that we see 
 God alone must be the object of our trust. 
 
 There is still left in man's nature a desire of plea- 
 sure, profit, and of whatever the creature presents as 
 good, but the desire of gracious good is altogether 
 lost, the soul being wholly infected with a contrary 
 taste. Man hath a nature capable of excellency, and 
 desirous of it, and the Spirit of God in and by the 
 word reveals where true excellency is to be had ; but 
 corrupt nature leaving God, seeketh it elsewhere, and 
 so crosseth its own desires, till the Spirit of God dis- 
 covers where these things are to be had, and so nature 
 is brought to its right frame again, by turning the 
 stream into the right current ; grace and sinful na- 
 ture have the same general object of comfort ; only 
 sinful nature seeks it in broken cisterns , and grace 
 in the fountain ; the beginning of our true happiness 
 is from the discovery of true and false objects, so as 
 the soul may clearly see what is best and safest, and 
 then steadfastly rely upon it. 
 
 It were a happy way to make the soul better ac- - 
 quainted with trusting in God, to labour to subdue 
 at the first all unruly inclinations of the soul to earthly 
 things, and to take advantage of the first tenderness 
 
1T)2 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 of the soul, to weed out that which is iil, and to plant 
 knowledge and love of the best things in it ; other- 
 wise where affections to anything below get much 
 strength in the soul, it will by little and little be so 
 overgrown, that there will be no place left in it, either 
 for (object or act) God or trust ; God cannot come 
 to take his place in the heart by trust, but where 
 the powers of the soul are brought under to regard 
 him and those great things he brings with him, above 
 all things else in the world besides. 
 
 In these glorious times wherein so great a light 
 shineth, whereby so great things are discovered, what 
 a shame is it to be so narrow hearted as to fix upon 
 present things ; our aims and affections should be 
 suitable to the things themselves set before us ; our 
 hearts should be more and more enlarged, as things 
 are more and more revealed to us ; we see in the 
 things of this life, as wisdom and experience increas- 
 eth, so our aims and desires increase likewise ; a 
 young beginner thinks it a great matter if he have a 
 little to begin withal, but as he grows in trading, and 
 seeth further ways of getting, his thoughts and de- 
 sires are raised higher : children think as children, but 
 riper age puts av/ay childishness, when their under- 
 standings are enlarged to see what they did not see 
 l>efore ; we should never rest till our hearts, according 
 to the measure of revelation of those excellent things 
 which God hath for us, have answerable apprehension 
 of the same. Oh, if we had but faith to answer those 
 glorious truths which God hath revealed, what man- 
 ner of lives should we lead ! 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 103 
 
 CHAP. XX. 
 
 Of the Method of trusting in God; and the Trial 
 of that Trust. 
 
 LASTLY, to add no more, our trusting in God 
 should follow God's order in promising. The 
 first promise is of forgiveness of sin to repentant be- 
 lievers; next, 2. of healing and sanctifying grace; 
 then, 3. the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven to 
 them that are sanctified ; 4. and then the promises of 
 all things needful in our way to the kingdom, &c. 
 Now answerably the soul being enhghtened to see its 
 danger, should look first to God's mercy in Christ 
 pardoning sin, because sin only divides betwixt God 
 and the soul ; next to the promises of grace for the 
 leading of a Christian life, for true faith desires heal- 
 ing mercy as well as pardoning mercy, and then to 
 heaven and all things that may bring us thither. 
 
 By all this we see that it is not so easy a matter as 
 the world takes it, to bring God and the soul together 
 by trusting on him ; it must be effected by the mighty 
 power of God, raising up the soul to himself, to lay 
 hold upon the glorious power, goodness, and other 
 excellencies that are in him ; God is not only the ob- 
 ject, but the working cause of our trust ; for such is 
 our proneness to live by sense, and natural reason, 
 and such is the strangeness and height of divine 
 things, such our inclination to a self- sufficiency and 
 contentment in the creature, and so hard a matter is 
 it to take off the soul from false bottoms, by reason of 
 our unacquaintance with God and his ways ; besides, 
 such guilt still remains upon our souls for our rebel- 
 lion and unkindness towards God, that it makes us 
 o 
 
194 THE soul's CONFLICT. 
 
 afraid to entertain serious thoughts of him ; and so 
 great is the distance betwixt his infinite majesty, (be- 
 fore whom the very angels do cover their faces) and 
 us, by reason of the unspiritualness of our nature, be- 
 ing opposite to his most absolute purity, that we can- 
 not be brought to any familiarity with the Lord, so 
 as to come into his holy presence with confidence to 
 rely upon him, or any comfort to have communion 
 with him, till our hearts be sanctified and lifted up 
 by divine vigour infused into them. 
 
 Though there be some inclination by reason of the 
 remainder of the image of God in us, to an outward 
 moral obedience of the law, yet, alas, we have not 
 only no seeds of Evangelical truths and of faith to be- 
 lieve them, but an utter contrariety in our natures, 
 as corrupted, either to this, or any other good. 
 When our conscience is once awaked, we meditate 
 nothing but fears and terrors, and dare not so much 
 as think of an angry God, but rather how we may 
 escape and fly from him. Therefore, together with a 
 deep consideration of the grounds we have of trusting 
 God, it is necessary we should think of the indispo- 
 sition of our hearts unto it, especially when there is 
 greatest need thereof, that so our hearts may be 
 forced to put out that petition of the disciples to God ; 
 Lord, iricrease our faith, Lord, help us against our 
 unbelieving hearts, &c. By prayer and holy thoughts 
 stirred up in the use of the means, we shall feel di- 
 vine strength infused and conveyed into our souls to 
 trust. 
 
 The more care we ought to have to maintain our 
 trust in God, because, besides the hardness of it, it is 
 a radical and fundamental grace ; it is as it were the 
 mother root and great vein whence the exercise of all 
 
THE soul's conflict. 195 
 
 graces have their beginning and strength. The decay 
 of a plant, though it appears first from the withering 
 of the twigs and branches, yet it arises chiefly from a 
 decay in the root ; so the decay of grace may appear 
 to tlie view, first in our company, carriage, and 
 speeches, &c. ; but the primitive and original ground 
 of the same is weakness of faith in the heart ; there- 
 fore it should be our wisdom, especially, to look to 
 tlie feeding of the root; we must, 1. look that our 
 principles and foundation be good, and, 2. build 
 strongly upon them, and, 3. repair our building every 
 day as continual breaches shall be made upon us, 
 either by corruptions and temptations from within or 
 without ; and we shall find that the main breaches of 
 our lives arise either from false principles or doubts, 
 or mindlessness of those that are true ; all sin is a turn- 
 ing of the soul from God to some other seem.ing good , 
 but this proceeds from a former turning of the soul 
 from God by distrust. As faith is the first return of 
 the soul to God, so the first degree of departing from 
 God is by infidelity, and from thence comes a depar- 
 ture by other sins, by which, as sin is of a winding 
 nature, our unbelief more increaseth, and so the rent 
 and breach betwixt our souls and God is made 
 greater still, which is that Satan would have, till at 
 length by departing further and further from him, we 
 come to have that peremptory sentence of everlasting 
 departure pronounced against us ; so that our de- 
 parture from God now is a degree to separation for 
 ever from him. Therefore it is Satan's main care to 
 come between God and the soul, that so unloosing 
 us from God, we might more easily be drawn to other 
 things ; and if he draws us to other things, it is but 
 only to unloose our hearts from God the more ; for 
 
196 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 he well knows whilst our souls cleave close to God, 
 there is no prevaihng against us by any created po- 
 licy or power. 
 
 It was the cursed policy of Balaam to advise Balak 
 to draw the people from God (by fornication), that so 
 God might be drawn from them : the sin of their base 
 affections crept into the very spirits of their mind, 
 and drew them from God to idolatry ; bodily adultery 
 makes way for spiritual ; an unbelieving heart is an 
 ill heart, and a treacherous heart, because it makes 
 us to depart from God, the living God, Sic, Heb. iii. 12. 
 Therefore we should especially take heed of it as we 
 love our hves, yea, our best life, which ariseth from 
 the union of our souls with God. 
 
 None so opposed as a Christian, and in a Christian 
 nothing so opposed as his faith, because it opposeth 
 whatsoever opposes God, both within and without us : 
 it captivates and brings under whatsoever rises up 
 against God in the heart, and sets itself against what- 
 soever makes head against the soul. 
 
 And because mistake is very dangerous, and we 
 are prone to conceive that to trust in God is an easy 
 matter, therefore it is needful that we should have a 
 right conceit of this trust, what it is, and how it may 
 be discerned, lest we trust to an untrusty trust, and 
 to an unsteady stay. 
 
 We may by what hath been said before, partly dis- 
 cern the nature of it, to be nothing else but an exer- 
 cise of faith, whereby looking to God in Christ through 
 the promises, we take off our souls from all other 
 supports, and lay them upon God for deliverance and 
 upholding in all ill, present or future, felt or feared, 
 and the obtaining of all good, which God sees expe» 
 dient for us, 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 197 
 
 Now that we may discern the truth of our trust in 
 God the better, we must know, that true trust is wil- 
 li7ig to be tried and searched, and can say to God as 
 David, Now, Lord, what ivait I for, my hope is in 
 thee, Psalm xxxix. 7 ; and as it is wilHng to come to 
 trial, so it is able to endure trial, and to hold out in 
 opposition, as appears in David; if faith hath a pro- 
 mise, it will rely and rest upon it, say flesh and blood 
 what it can to the contrary ; true faith is as large as 
 the promise, and will take God's part against what- 
 soever opposes it. 
 
 And as faith singles not out one part of divine 
 truth to believe and rejects another, so it relies upon 
 God for every good thing, one as well as another ; 
 the ground whereof is this, the same love of God that 
 intends us heaven, intends us a supply of all necessaries 
 that may bring us thither. 
 
 A child that believes his father will make him heir, 
 doubts not but he will provide him food and nourish- 
 ment, and give him breeding suitable to his future 
 condition ; it is a vain pretence to believe that God 
 will give us heaven, and yet leave us to shift for our- 
 selves in the way. 
 
 Where trust is rightly planted, it gives boldness to 
 the soul in going to God, for it is grounded upon the 
 discovery of God's love first to us, and seeth a war- 
 rant from him for whatsoever it trusts him for ; though 
 the things themselves be never so great, yet they are 
 no greater than God is wilKng to bestow; again, 
 trust is bold because it is grounded upon the worthi- 
 ness of a mediator, who hath made way to God's fa- 
 vour for us, and appears now in heaven to maintain it 
 towards us. 
 
 Yet this boldness is with humility, which carries 
 
198 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 the soul out of itself; and that boldness which the 
 soul by trust hath with God, is from God himself; it 
 hath nothing to allege from itself but its own empti- 
 ness and God's fulness, its own sinfulness and God's 
 mercy, its own humble obedience and God's com- 
 mand ; hence it is that the true believer's heart is not 
 lifted up, nor swells with self-confidence ; as trust 
 comes in, that goes out ; trust is never planted, and 
 grows but in an humble and low soul ; trust is a holy 
 motion of the soul to God, and motion arises from 
 want; those, and those only, seek out abroad that 
 want succour at home ; plants move not from place 
 to place, because they find nourishment where they 
 stand ; but living creatures seek abroad for their 
 food, and for that end have a power of moving from 
 place to place ; and this is the reason why trust is ex- 
 pressed by going to God. 
 
 Hereupon trust is a dependent grace, answerable 
 to our dependent condition ; it looks upon all things, 
 it hath or desires to have, as coming from God and 
 his free grace and power : it desireth not only wis- 
 dom but to be wise in his wisdom, to see in his hght, 
 to be strong in his strength, the thing itself contents 
 not this grace of trust, but God's blessing and love in 
 the thing, it cares not for any thing further than it 
 can have it with God's favour and good liking. 
 
 Hence it is that trust is an obsequious and an ob- 
 serving grace, stirring up the soul to a desire of pleas- 
 ing God in all things, and to a fear of displeasing 
 him : he that pretends to trust the Lord in a course 
 of offending, may trust to this that God will meet him 
 in another way than he looks for : he that is a tenant 
 at courtesy will not offend his Lord : hence it is that 
 the apostle enforceth that exhortation to work out our 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 199 
 
 salvation ivith fear and trembling, because it is God 
 that worketh the will and the deed, and according to 
 his good pleasure, not ours : therefore, faith is an ef- 
 fectual working grace, it works in Heaven with God, 
 it works within us, commanding all the powers of the 
 soul, it works without us, conquering whatsoever is in 
 the world on the right hand to draw us from God, or 
 on the left hand to discourage us ; it works against 
 hell and the powers of darkness ; and all by virtue of 
 trusting, as it draweth strength from God ; it stirs up 
 all other graces and keeps them in exercise, and 
 thereupon the acts of other graces are attributed to 
 faith, as Heb. xi. It breeds a holy jealousy over our- 
 selves, lest we give God just cause to stop the influ- 
 ence of his grace towards us, so to let us see that we 
 stand not by our own strength : those that take liberty 
 in things they either know or doubt will -displease 
 God, show they want the fear of God, and this want 
 of fear shows their want of dependency, and therefore 
 want of trust ; dependency is always very respective, 
 it studieth contentment and care to comply; this 
 was it made Enoch walk with God, and study how 
 to please him, Heb. xi. 5 ; when we know nothing 
 can do us good or hurt but God, it draws our chief 
 care to approve ourselves to him. Obedience of 
 faith and obedience of life will go together; and 
 therefore he that commits his soul to God to save, 
 will commit his soul to God to sanctify and guide in 
 a way of well pleasing : not only the tame, but the 
 most savage creatures, will be at the beck of those 
 that feed them, though they are ready to fall violently 
 upon others ; disobedience, therefore, is against the 
 principles of nature. 
 
 This dependency is either in the use of means, or 
 
200 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 else when means fail us ; true dependency is exactly 
 careful of all means. When God hath set down a 
 course of means, we must not expect that God should 
 alter his ordinary course of providence for us ; de- 
 served disappointment is the fruit of this presumptu- 
 ous confidence ; the more we depend on a wise phy- 
 sician, the more we shall observe his directions, and 
 be careful to use what he prescribes ; yet we must 
 use the means as means, and not set them in God's 
 room, for that is the way to blast our hopes ; the way 
 to have anything taken away and not blest, is to set 
 our heart too much upon it. Too much grief in part- 
 ing with anything, shows too much trust in the enjoy- 
 ing of it : and therefore he that uses the means in 
 faith, will always join prayer unto God, from whom 
 as every good thing comes, so likewise doth the bles- 
 sing and success thereof; where much endeavour is 
 and little seeking to God, it shows there is little 
 trust ; the widow that trusted in God, continued like- 
 wise in prayers day and night. 
 
 The best discovery of our not relying too much 
 on means, is, when all means fail, if we can still rely 
 upon God, as being still where he was, and hath ways 
 of his own for helping of us, either immediately from 
 himself, or by setting awork other means, and those, 
 perhaps, very unlikely, such as we think not of. God 
 hath ways of his own. Abraham never honoured God 
 more, than when he trusted in God for a son against 
 the course of nature, and when he had a son, w^as 
 ready to sacrifice him, upon confidence that God 
 would raise him from the dead again. This was the 
 ground upon which Daniel, with such great authority, 
 reproved Balthasar that he had not a care to glorify 
 God^ in whose hand his breath was,^ and all his ways. 
 
THE soul's COXFLICT. 201 
 
 The greatest honour we can do unto God, is when 
 we see nothing, but rather all contrary to that we 
 look for, then to shut our eyes to inferior things be- 
 low, and look altogether upon his all-sufficiency ; God 
 can convey himself more comfortably to us when he 
 pleaseth, without means than by means. True trust, 
 as it sets God highest in the soul, so in danger and 
 wants it hath present recourse to him, as the conies 
 to the rocks. 
 
 And because God's times and seasons are the best, 
 it is an evidence of true trust when we can wait God's 
 leisure, and not make haste, and so run before God ; 
 for else the more haste the worse speed ; God seldom 
 makes any promise to his children, but he exerciseth 
 their trust in waiting long before, as David for a king- 
 dom, Abraham for a son, the whole world for Christ's 
 coming, &c. 
 
 One main evidence of true trust in God is here in 
 the text : we see here it hath a quieting and stilling 
 virtue, for it stays the soul upon the fulness of God's 
 love, joined with his ability to supply our wants and 
 relieve our necessities, though faith doth not, at the 
 first especially, so stay the soul, as to take away all 
 suspicious fears of the contrary : there be so many 
 things in trouble that press upon the soul, as hinder 
 the joining of God and it together, yet the prevaihng 
 of our unbelief is taken away, the reign of it is broken. 
 If the touch of Christ in his abasement on earth drew 
 virtue from him, certain it is that faith cannot touch 
 Christ in heaven, but it will draw a quieting and sanc- 
 tified virtue from him, which will in some measure 
 stop the issues of an unquiet spirit ; the needle in the 
 compass will stand north, though with some trem- 
 bling. 
 
1^2 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 A ship that Hes at anchor may be something tossed, 
 but yet it still remains so fastened, that it cannot be 
 carried away by wind or weather ; the soul, after it 
 hath cast anchor upon God, may, as we see here in 
 David, be disquieted awhile, but this unsetthng tends 
 to a deeper settling ; the more we believe, the more 
 we are established ; faith is an establishing grace, by 
 faith we stand, and stand fast, and are able to with- 
 stand whatsoever opposeth us. For what can stand 
 against God, upon whose truth and power faith re- 
 hes ? the devil fears not us, but him whom we fly unto 
 for succour ; it is the ground we stand on secures us, 
 not ourselves. 
 
 As it is our happiness, so it must be our endeavour 
 to bring the soul close to God, that nothing get be- 
 tween, for then the soul hath no sure footing. When 
 we step from God, Satan steps in by some temptation 
 or other presently. It requires a gi'eat deal of self- 
 denial, to bring a soul either swelling with carnal 
 confidence, or sinking by fear and distrust, to lie level 
 upon God, and cleave fast to him : square will lie 
 fast upon square ; but our hearts are so full of im- 
 evenness, that God hath much ado to square our 
 hearts fit for him, notwithstanding the soul hath no 
 rest without this. 
 
 The use of trust is best known in the worst times, 
 for naturally in sickness we trust to the physician, in 
 want to our wit and shifts, in danger to policy and the 
 arm of flesh, in plenty to our present supply, &c. but 
 when we have nothing in view, then indeed should 
 God be God unto us. In times of distress, when he 
 shows himself in the ways of his mercy and goodness, 
 then we should especially magnify his name, which 
 will move him to discover his excellencies the more, 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 203 
 
 the more we take notice of them. And therefore 
 David strengthens himself in these words, that he 
 hoped for better times, wherein God would show him- 
 self more gracious to him, because he resolved to 
 praise him. 
 
 This trusting joints the soul again, and sets it in its 
 own trust resting-place, and sets God in his own 
 place in the soul, that is, the highest ; and the crea- 
 ture in its place, which is to be under God, as in its 
 own nature, so in our hearts. This is to ascribe ho- 
 nour due unto God, Psalm xxix. 2, the only way to 
 bring peace into the soul : «thus, if we can bring our 
 hope and trust to the God of hope and trust, we shall 
 stand impregnable in all assaults, as will best appear 
 in these particulars, 
 
 CHAP. XXI. 
 
 Of quieting the Spirit in Troubles for Si7i. 
 And Objections answered, 
 
 TO begin with troubles of the spirit, which indeed 
 are the spirit of troubles, as disabling that which 
 should uphold a man in all his troubles. A spirit set 
 in tune, and assisted by a higher spirit, will stand out 
 against ordinary assaults, but when God (the God of 
 the spirits of all flesh) shall seem contrary to our spi- 
 rits, whence then shall we find relief? 
 
 Here all is spiritual, God a Spirit, the soul a spi- 
 rit, the terrors spiritual, the devil who joins with these 
 a spirit ; yea, that which the soul fears for the time 
 to come, is spiritual, and not only spiritual, but eter- 
 nal, unless it pleaseth God at length to break out of 
 the thick cloud, wherewith he covers himself, and 
 shine upon the soul, as in his own time he will. 
 
204 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 In this estate, comforts themselves are uncomfort- 
 able to the soul; it quarrels with every thing, the 
 better things it hears of, the more it is vexed. Oh 
 what is this to me, what have I to do with these com- 
 forts ? the more happiness may be had, the more is 
 my grief; as for comforts from God*s inferior bles- 
 sings, as friends, children, estate, &c. the soul is 
 ready to misconstrue God's end in all, as not intend- 
 ing any good to him thereby. 
 
 In this condition God doth not appear in his own 
 shape to the soul, but in the shape of an enemy ; and 
 when God seems against us, who shall stand for us ? 
 our blessed Saviour in his agony had the angels to 
 comfort him ; but had he been a mere man, and not 
 assisted by the godhead, it was not the comfort (no, 
 not) of angels that could have upheld him, in the sense 
 of his Father's withdrawing his countenance from him. 
 Alas, then, what will become of us in such a case, if 
 we be not supported by a spirit of power and the 
 power of an almighty Spirit ? 
 
 If all the temptations of the whole world and hell 
 itself were mustered together, they were nothing to 
 this, whereby the great God sets himself contrary to 
 his poor creature. None can conceive so, but those 
 that have felt it. If the hiding of his face will so 
 trouble the soul, what will his frown and angry look 
 do ? needs must the soul be in a woeful plight, when 
 as God seems not only to be absent from it, but an 
 enemy to it. When a man sees no comfort from 
 above, and looks inward and sees less ; when he looks 
 about him, and sees nothing but evidences of God's 
 displeasure ; beneath him, and sees nothing but des- 
 peration ; clouds without, and clouds within, nothing 
 but clouds in his condition ; here he had need of 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 205 
 
 faith to break through all, and see sun through the 
 thickest cloud. 
 
 Upon this, the distressed soul is in danger to be 
 set upon a temptation, called the temptation of blas- 
 phemy, that is, to entertain bitter thoughts against 
 God, and especially against the grace and goodness 
 of God, wherein he desires to make himself most 
 known to his creature. In those that have wilfully 
 resisted divine truths made known unto them, and 
 after taste, despised them, a persuasion that God hath 
 forsaken them, set on strongly by Satan, hath a 
 worse effect, it stirs up a hellish hatred against God, 
 carrying them to a revengeful desire of opposing 
 whatsoever is God's, though not always openly (for 
 then they should lose the advantage of doing hurt) 
 yet secretly and subtilly, and under pretence of the 
 contrary. To this degree of blasphemy God's chil- 
 dren never fall, yet they may feel the venom of cor- 
 ruption stirring in their hearts, against God and his 
 ways, which he takes with them ; and this adds 
 greatly to the depth of their affliction, when afterward 
 they think with themselves what hellish stuff they 
 carry in their souls. This is not so much discerned 
 in the temptation, but after the fit is somewhat re- 
 mitted. 
 
 In this kind of desertion, seconded with this kind 
 of temptation, the way is to call home the soul, and 
 to check it, and charge it to trust in God, even though 
 he shows himself an enemy, for it is but a show, he 
 doth but put on a mask with a purpose to reveal 
 himself the more graciously afterward ; his manner is 
 to work by contraries. In this condition God lets in 
 some few beams of light, whereby the soul casts a 
 longing look upon God, even when he seems to for- 
 
206 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 sake it ; it will, with Jonas in the belly of hell, look 
 back to the holy temple of God, Jonah ii. 4, it will 
 steal a look unto Christ. Nothing more comfortable 
 in this condition, than to fly to him, that by experi- 
 ence knew what this kind of forsaking meant, for this 
 very end that he might be the fitter to succour us in 
 the like distress. 
 
 Learn, therefore, to appeal from God to God, op- 
 pose his gracious nature, his sweet promises to such 
 as are in darkness, and see no light, Isa. 1. 10, inviting 
 them to trust in him, though there appear to the eye 
 of sense and reason nothing but darkness : here make 
 use of that sweet relatioa of God in Christ, becoming 
 a Father to us : Doubtless thou art our Father, Isa. 
 Ixiii. 16 : flesh would make a doubt of it, and thou 
 seemest to hide thy face from us, yet doubtless thou 
 art our Father, and hast in former time showed thy- 
 self to be so, we will not leave thee till we have a 
 blessing from thee, till we have a kinder look from 
 thee : this wresthng will prevail at length, and we 
 shall have such a sight of him, as shall be an encou- 
 ragement for the time to come, w^hen we shall be 
 able to comfort others, with those comforts whereby 
 we have been refreshed ourselves, 2 Cor. i. 4. With 
 the saint's case remember the saint's course, which is 
 to trust in God. So Christ the Head of the Church 
 commits himself to that God, whose favour for the 
 present he felt not ; so Job resolves upon trust, though 
 God should kill him. 
 
 But these holy persons were not troubled with the 
 guilt of any particular sin, but I feel the just dis- 
 pleasure of God kindled against me for many and 
 great offences. 
 
 True it is, that sin is not so sweet in the committing, 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 207 
 
 as it is heavy and bitter in the reckoning. When 
 Adam had once offended God, Paradise itself was 
 not Paradise to him. The presence of God, which 
 was mo&t comfortable before, was now his greatest 
 terror, had not God out of his free infinite and pre- 
 venting mercy come betwixt him and hell, by the 
 promise of the blessed seed. This seed was made sin 
 to satisfy for sin ; sin passive in himself to satisfy for 
 sin active in us, 1 Cor, v. 21. 
 
 When God once charges sin upon the soul, alas, 
 who shall take it off? when the great God shall 
 frown, the smiles of the creature cannot refresh us. 
 Sin makes us afraid of that which should be our 
 greatest comfort; it puts a sting into every other 
 evil, upon the seizing of any evil, either of body, soul, 
 or condition, the guilty soul is imbittered and enraged ; 
 for from that which it feels, it fore-speaks to itself 
 worse to come. It interprets all that befalls as the 
 messengers of an angry God, sent in displeasure to 
 take revenge upon it. This weakeneth the courage, 
 wasteth the spirits, and blasteth the beauty even of 
 God's dearest ones, Psalm xxxviii. There is not the 
 stoutest man breathing, but if God sets his conscience 
 against him, it will pull him down, and lay him flat, 
 and fill him with such inward terrors, as he shall be 
 more afraid of himself, than of all the world beside. 
 This were a doleful case, if God had not provided in 
 Christ a remedy for this great evil of evils, and if the 
 holy Spirit were not above the conscience, able as 
 well to pacify it by the sense of God's love in Christ, 
 as to convince it of sin, and the just desert thereby. 
 
 But my sins are riot the sins of an ordinary 
 man, my spots are not as the spots of the rest of 
 God's children. 
 
 I 
 
208 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 Conceive of God's mercy as no ordinary mercy, 
 and Christ's obedience as no ordinary obedience. 
 There is something in the very greatness of sin, that 
 may encourage us to go to God, for the greater our 
 sins are, the greater the glory of his powerful mercy 
 piardoning, and his powerful grace in healing will ap- 
 pear. The great God delights to show his greatness 
 in the greatest things ; even men glory, when they are 
 put upon that, which may set forth their worth in 
 any kind. God delighteth in mercy, Mic. vii. 18, it 
 pleaseth him (nothing so well) as being his chief 
 name, which then we take in vain, when we are 
 not moved by it to come unto him. 
 
 That which Satan would use as an argument to 
 drive us from God, we should use as a strong plea 
 with him. Lord, the greater my sins are, the greater 
 will be the glory of thy pardoning mercy. David, 
 after his heinous sins, cries not for mercy, but for 
 abundance of mercy, according to the multitude of 
 thy mercies, do away mine offences, Psalm li : his 
 mercy is not only above his own works, but above 
 ours too. If we could sin more than he could pardon, 
 then we might have some reason to despair. Despair 
 is a high point of atheism, it takes away God and 
 Christ both at once. Judas, in betraying our Saviour, 
 was an occasion of his death as man, but in despair- 
 ing he did what lay in him to take away his life as 
 God. 
 
 When, therefore, conscience joining with Satan, 
 sets out the sin in its colours, labour thou by faith to 
 set out God in his colours, infinite in mercy and loving 
 kindness. Here hes the art of a Christian ; it is di- 
 vine rhetoric thus to persuade and set down the soul. 
 Thy sins are great, but Adam's was greater, who being 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 209 
 
 SO newly advanced above all the creatures, and taken 
 into so near an acquaintance with God, and having 
 ability to persist in that condition if he would, yet 
 willingly overthrew himself and all his whole posterity, 
 by yielding to a temptation, which though high (as 
 being promised to be like unto God,) yet such as he 
 should and might have resisted ; no sin we can com- 
 mit, can be a sin of so tainting and spreading a na- 
 ture, yet as he fell by distrust, so he was recovered by 
 trusting, and so must we by relying on a second 
 Adam, whose obedience andrighteousnessyVom thence 
 reigns, Rom. v. 17, to the taking away not only of 
 that one sin of Adam, and ours in him, but of all, 
 and not only to the pardon of all sin, but to a right 
 of everlasting life. The Lord thinks himself dispa- 
 raged, when we have no higher thoughts of his mercy, 
 than of our sins, when we bring God down to our 
 model, when as the heavens are not so much higher 
 than the earth, than his thoughts of love and good- 
 ness are above the thoughts of our unworthiness, 
 Isa. Iv. 9. It is a kind of taking away the Almighty, 
 to limit his boundless mercy in Christ, within the 
 narrow scantling of our apprehension ; yet infidelity 
 doth this, which should stir up in us a loathing of it 
 above all other sins. But this is Satan's fetch, when 
 once he hath brought us into sins against the law, 
 then to bring us into sins of a higher nature, and 
 deeper danger, even against the blessed Gospel, th^t 
 so there may be no remedy, but that mercy itself 
 might condemn us. 
 
 All the aggravations, that conscience and Satan 
 
 helping it, are able to raise sin unto, cannot rise to 
 
 that degree of infiniteness, that God's mercy in 
 
 Christ is of. If there be a spring of sin in us, there 
 
 p 
 
210 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 is a spring of mercy in him, and a fountain opened 
 daily to wash ourselves in. If we sin oft, let us do as 
 Saint Paul, who prayed oft against the prick of the 
 flesh, Zac. xiii. 1. If it be a devil of long continu- 
 ance, yet fasting and prayer will drive him out at 
 length. 
 
 Nothing keeps the soul more down than sins of 
 long continuance, because corruption of nature hath 
 gotten such strength in them, as nature is added to 
 nature, and custom doth so determine and sway the 
 soul one way, that men think it impossible to recover 
 themselves, they see one link of sin draw on another, 
 all making a chain to fasten them to destruction, they 
 think of necessity they must be damned, because cus- 
 tom hath bred a necessity of sinning in them, and 
 conceive of the promise of mercy, as only made to 
 such as turn from their sinful courses, in which they 
 see themselves so hardened, that they cannot repent. 
 
 Certain it is, the condition is most lamentable, that 
 yielding unto sin brings men unto. Men are careful 
 to prevent dangerous sicknesses of body, and the 
 danger of law concerning their estates ; but seldom 
 consider into what a miserable plight their sins, which 
 they so willingly give themselves up unto, will bring 
 them. If they do not perish in their sins, yet their 
 yielding will bring them into such a doleful condition, 
 that they would give the whole world, if they were 
 possessors of it, to have their spirits at freedom from 
 this bondage and fear. 
 
 To such as bless themselves in an ill way upon 
 hope of mercy, we dare not speak a word of comfort, 
 because God doth not, but threatens, his wrath shall 
 burn to hell against them. Yet because while life 
 continues there may be as a space, so a place, and 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 211 
 
 grace for repentance, these must be dealt withal in 
 such a manner, as they may be stayed and stopped 
 in their dangerous courses, there must be a stop be- 
 fore a turn. 
 
 And when their consciences are thoroughly awaked 
 with sense of their danger, let them seriously consider 
 whither sin, and Satan by sin, is carrying of them, 
 and lay to heart the justice of God, standing before 
 them as an angel with a drawn sword, ready to fall 
 upon them if they post on still. 
 
 Yet to keep them from utter sinking, let them con- 
 sider withal, the unlimited mercy of God, as not 
 limited to any person, or any sin, so not to any time ; 
 there is no prescription of time can bind God, his 
 mercy hath no certain date that will expire, so as 
 those that fly unto it, shall have no benefit. Invin- 
 cible mercy will never be conquered, and endless 
 goodness never admits of bounds or end. 
 
 What kind of people were those that followed 
 Christ ? were they not such as had lived long in their 
 sinful courses ? he did not only raise them that were 
 newly dead, but Lazarus that had lien four days in 
 the grave. They thought Christ's power in raising 
 the dead had reached to a short time only, but he 
 would let them know, that he could as well raise 
 those that had been long as lately dead. If Christ 
 be the physician, it is no matter of how long continu- 
 ance the disease be. He is good at all kind of dis- 
 eases, and will not endure the reproach of disability 
 to cure any. Some diseases are the reproaches of 
 other physicians, as being above their skill to help, 
 but no conceit more dangerous when we are to deal 
 with Christ. 
 
 ** The blessed martyr Bilney was much offended 
 
212 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 when he heard an eloquent preacher inveighing against 
 sin, saying thus, Behold, thou hast lien rotten in thy 
 own lusts, by the space Qf sixty years, even as a beast 
 in his own dung, and wilt thou presume in one year 
 to go forward towards heaven, and that in thine old 
 age, as much as thou wen test backward from heaven 
 to hell in sixty years ? is not this a goodly argument ? 
 saith Bilney : is this preaching of repentance in the 
 name of Jesus ? it is as if Christ had died in vain for such 
 a man, and that he must make satisfaction for himself. 
 If I had heard, sailh he, such preaching of repentance 
 in times past, I had utterly despaired of mercy :" we 
 must never think the door of hope to be shut against 
 us, if we have a purpose to turn unto God. As there 
 is nothing more injurious to Christ, so nothing more 
 foolish and groundless than to distrust, it being the 
 chief scope of God in his word to draw our trust to 
 him in Christ, in whom is always open a breast of 
 mercy for humbled sinners to fly unto. 
 
 But thus far the consideration of our long time 
 spent in the devil's service should prevail with us, as 
 to take more shame to ourselves, so to resolve more 
 strongly for God and his ways, and to account it 
 more than sufficient that we have spent already so 
 much precious time to so ill purposes ; and the less 
 time we have, to make the more haste to work for 
 God, and bring all the honour we can to rehgion in 
 so little a space. Oh how doth it grieve those that 
 have felt the gracious power of Christ in converting 
 their souls, that ever they should spend the strength 
 of their parts in the work of his and their enemy ! 
 and might they hve longer, it is their full purpose for 
 ever to renounce their former ways. There is bred 
 in them an eternal desire of pleasing God, as in the 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 213 
 
 wicked there is an eternal desire of offending him, 
 which eternity of desires God looks to in both of 
 them, and rewards them accordingly, though he cuts 
 off the thread of their lives. 
 
 But God in wisdom will have the conversions of 
 such as have gone on in a course of sinning (especially 
 after light revealed) to be rare and difficult. Births 
 in those that are ancienter, are with greater danger 
 than in the younger sort. God will take a course, 
 that his grace shall not be turned into wantonness. 
 He oft holds such upon the rack of a troubled con- 
 science, that they and others may fear to buy the 
 pleasure of sin at such a rate. Indeed where sin 
 abounds, there grace superabounds, but then it is 
 where sin that abounded in the life abounds in the 
 conscience in grief and detestation of it, as the great- 
 est evil. Christ groaned at the raising of Lazarus, 
 which he did not at others, because that although to 
 an Almighty power all things are alike easy, yet he 
 will show that there be degrees of difficulties in the 
 things themselves, and make it appear to us that it is 
 so. Therefore those that have enjoyed long the sweet 
 of sin, may expect the bitterest sorrow and repentance 
 for sin. 
 
 Yet never give place to thoughts of despair, as 
 coming from him that would overturn the end of the 
 Gospel, which lays open the riches of God's mercy 
 in Christ, which riches none set out more than those 
 that have been the greatest of sinners ^ as we see in 
 Paul. We cannot exalt God more than by taking 
 notice, and making use of that great design of infinite 
 wisdom in reconciling justice and mercy together, so 
 as now he is not only merciful, hxxt just in pardoning 
 sins, Rom. iii. 26. Our Saviour, as he came towards 
 
214 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 the latter age of the world, when all things seemed 
 desperate ; so he comes to some men in the latter part 
 of their days. The mercy showed to Zacchseus, and 
 the good thief was personal, but the comfort intended 
 by Christ was public, therefore still trust in God, 
 
 In this case we must go to God, with whom all 
 things are possible, to put forth his almighty power, 
 not only in the pardoning, but in subduing our ini- 
 quities. He that can make a camel go through a 
 needle s eye, can make a high conceited man lowly, 
 a rich man humble. Therefore never question his 
 power, much less his willingness, when he is not only 
 ready to receive us when we return, but persuades 
 and intreats us to come in unto him, yea, after back- 
 sliding and false dealing with him, wherein he allows 
 no mercy to be showed by man, yet he will take li* 
 berty to show mercy himself, Jer. iii. 2. 
 
 But I have often relapsed and fallen into the same 
 sin again and again. 
 
 If Christ will have us pardon our brother seventy- 
 seven times, can we think that he will enjoin us more, 
 than he will be ready to do himself, when in case of 
 showing mercy he would have us think his thoughts 
 to be far above ours ? Adam lost all by once sinning, 
 IsaAv. 1, but we are under a better covenant, a co- 
 venant of mercy, and are encouraged by the Son to 
 go to the Father every day for the sins of that day. 
 
 Where the work of grace is begun, sin loses strength 
 by every new fall ; for hence issues deeper humility, 
 stronger hatred, fresh indignation against ourselves, 
 more experience of the deceitfulness of our hearts, re- 
 newed resolutions until sin be brought under. That 
 should not drive us from God, which God would have 
 us make use of to fly the rather to him, since there 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 215 
 
 is a throne of grace set up in Jesus Christ we may 
 boldly make use of, and let us be ashamed to sin, 
 and not be ashamed to glorify God's mercy in begging 
 pardon for sin. Nothing will make us more ashamed 
 to sin, than thoughts of so free and large mercy. 
 It will grieve an ingenuous spirit to offend so good a 
 God. Ah that there should be such a heart in me, 
 as to tire the patience of God, and dam up his good- 
 ness, as much as in me lies ! but this is our comfort, 
 that the plea of mercy from a broken spirit to a gra- 
 cious Father, will ever hold good. When we are at 
 the lowest in this world,] yet there are these three 
 grounds of comfort still remaining. 1. That we are 
 not yet in the place of the damned, whose estate is 
 unalterable. 2. That whilst we live there is time and 
 space for recovering of ourselves. 3. That there is 
 grace offered, if we will not shut our hearts against it. 
 
 0, but every one hath his time, my good hour may 
 be past. 
 
 That is counsel to thee, it is not past if thou canst 
 raise up thy heart to God, and embrace his goodness. 
 Show by thy yielding unto mercy, that thy time of 
 mercy is not yet out, rather than by concluding un^ 
 comfortably, willingly betray thyself to thy greatest 
 enemy, enforcing that upon thyself, which God la- 
 bours to draw thee from. As in the sin against the 
 Holy Ghost, fear shows that we have not committed 
 it : so in this, a tender heart fearing lest our time be 
 past, shews plainly that it is not past. 
 
 Look upon examples, when the prodigal in his 
 forlorn condition was going to his father, his father 
 stayed not for him, but meets him in the way, Luke 
 XV., he did not only go, but ran to meet him. God 
 is more willing to entertain us, than we are to cast 
 
216 THE SOUL*S CONFLICT. 
 
 ourselves upon him : as there is a fountain opened for 
 sin, and for uncleanness, so it is a Uving fountain 
 of Hving water, that runs for ever, and can never be 
 drawn dry. 
 
 Here remember, that I build not a shelter for the 
 presumptuous, but only open a harbour for the truly 
 humbled soul, to put himself into. 
 
 CHAP. XXII. 
 
 Of sorrow for Sin, and hatred for Sin, when right 
 and sufficient. Helps thereto, 
 
 AH ! there's my misery. If I could be humbled 
 for sin, I might hope for mercy, but I never 
 yet knew what a broken heart meant, this soul of 
 77iine was never as yet sensible of the grief and smart 
 of sin, how then can I expect any comfort? 
 
 It is one of Satan's poUcies to hold us in a dead 
 and barren condition, by following us with conceits, 
 that we have not sorrowed in proportion to our of- 
 fences. True it is, we should labour that our sorrow 
 might in some measure answer to the heinousness of 
 our sins : but we must know sorrow is not required 
 for itself in that degree as faith is : if we could trust 
 in God without much sorrow for our sins, then it 
 would not be required, for God delights not in our 
 sorrow as sorrow, God in mercy both requires it and 
 works it, as thereby making us capable vessels of 
 mercy, fit to acknowledge, value, and walk worthy of 
 Christ ; he requires it as it is a means to imbitter sin, 
 and the delightful pleasures thereof unto us, and by 
 that means bring us to a right judgment of ourselves, 
 and the creature, with which sin commits spiritual 
 adultery, that so we may recover our taste before 
 
THE soul's conflict. 217 
 
 lost. And then, when with the prodigal we return 
 unto ourselves, having lost ourselves before, we are 
 fit to judge of the baseness of sin, and of the worth 
 of mercy ; and so upon grounds of right reason, be 
 willing to alter our condition, and embrace mercy 
 upon any terms it shall please Christ to enjoin. 
 
 Secondly, if we could grieve and cast down our- 
 selves beneath the earth as low as the nethermost pit, 
 yet this would be no satisfaction to God for sin ; of 
 itself, it is rather an entrance, and beginning of hell. 
 
 Thirdly, we must search what is the cause of this 
 want of grief which we complain of; whether it be 
 not a secret cleaving to the creature, and too much 
 contentment in it, which oft stealeth away the heart 
 from God, and brings in such contentment as is sub- 
 ject to fail and deceive us, whereupon from discontent- 
 ment we grieve, which grief, being carnal, hinders grief 
 of a better kind. 
 
 Usually the causes of our want of grief for sin are 
 these. First, a want of serious consideration, and 
 dwelling long enough upon the cause of grief, which 
 springs either from an unsettledness of nature ; or dis- 
 tractions from things without. Moveable dispositions 
 are not long affected with anything. One main use 
 of crosses, is to take the soul from that it is danger- 
 ously set upon, and to fix our running spirits. For 
 though grief for crosses hinders spiritual grief, yet 
 worldly delights hinder more. That grief is less dis- 
 tant from true grief, and therefore nearer to be turned 
 into it. 
 
 And put case we could call o'fF our minds from other 
 things, and set them on grief for our sins, yet it is 
 only God's Spirit that can work our hearts to this 
 grief, and for this end, perhaps God holds us off from 
 it, to teach us, that he is the teacher of the heart to 
 
218 THE SOUL*S CONFLICT. 
 
 grieve. And thereupon it is our duty to wait, till lie 
 reveal ourselves so far to ourselves, as to stir up this 
 affection in us. 
 
 Another cause may be a kind of doubleness of 
 heart, whereby we would bring two things together 
 that cannot suit. We would grieve for sin so far as 
 we think it an evidence of a good condition : but then 
 because it is an irksome task, and because it cannot 
 be wrought without severing our heart from those 
 sweet dehghts it is set upon ; hence we are loath God 
 should take that course to work grief, which crosseth 
 our disposition. The soul must therefore by self- 
 denial be brought to such a degree of sincerity and 
 simplicity, as to be willing to give God leave to work 
 this sorrow, not to be sorrowed for, 2 Cor. xvii. 10, 
 by what way he himself pleaseth. But here we must 
 remember again, that this self-denial is not of our- 
 selves, but of God, who only can take us out of our- 
 selves, and if our hearts were brought to a stooping 
 herein to his work, it would stop many a cross, and 
 continue many a blessing which God is forced to take 
 from us, that he may work that grief in us which he 
 seeth would not otherwise be kindly wrought. 
 
 God giveth some larger spirits, and so their sor- 
 rows become larger. Some upon quickness of appre- 
 hension, and the ready passages betwixt the brain 
 and the heart, are quickly moved : where the appre- 
 hension is deeper, and the passages slower, there sor- 
 row is long in working, and long in removing. The 
 deepest waters have the stillest motion. Iron takes 
 fire more slowly than stubble, but then it holds it 
 longer. 
 
 Again, God that searcheth and knows our hearts, 
 better than ourselves, knows when and in what mea- 
 sure it is Jit for to grieve ; he sees it is fitter for some 
 
THE soul's conflict. 219 
 
 dispositions to go on in a constant grief. We must 
 give that honour to the wisdom of the great physician 
 of souls, to know best how to mingle and minister his 
 potions. And we must not be so unkind to take it 
 ill at God's hands, when he out of gentleness and for- 
 bearance, ministers not to us that churlish physic he 
 doth to others, but cheerfully embrace any potion 
 that he thinks fit to give us. 
 
 Some holy men have desired to see their sin in the 
 most ugly colours, and God hath heard them in their 
 requests. But yet his hand was so heavy upon them, 
 that they went always mourning to their very graves ; 
 and thought it fitter to leave it to God's wisdom to 
 mingle the potion of sorrow, than to be their own 
 choosers. For a conclusion then of this point, if we 
 grieve that we cannot grieve, and so far as it is sin, 
 make it our grief: then put it amongst the rest of our 
 sins, which we beg pardon of, and help against, and 
 let it not hinder us from going to Christ, but drive us 
 to him. For herein lies the danger of this temptation, 
 that those who complain in this kind, think it should 
 be presumption to go to Christ : when as he espe- 
 cially calleth the weary and heavy laden sinner to 
 come unto him, and therefore such as are sensible that 
 they are not sensible enough of their sin, must know 
 though want of feeling be quite opposite to the life 
 of grace, yet sensibleness of the want of feeling shows 
 some degree of the life of grace. The safest way in 
 this case is from that life and hght that God hath 
 wrought in our souls, to see and feel this want of feel- 
 ing, to cast ourselves and this our indisposition upon 
 the pardoning and healing mercy of God in Christ. 
 
 We speak only of those that are so far displeased 
 with themselves for their ill temper, as they do not 
 
220 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 favour themselves in it, but are willing to yield to 
 - GocUs way in redressing it, and do not cross the spirit, 
 moving them thus with David to check themselves, 
 and to trust in God. Otherwise, an unfeeling and 
 careless state of spirit wiir breed a secret shame of 
 going to God, for removing of that we are not hearty 
 in labouring against so far as our conscience tells us 
 we are enabled. 
 
 The most constant state the soul can be in, in re- 
 gard of sin, is, upon judgment to condemn it upon 
 right grounds, and to resolve against it. Whereupon 
 repentance is called an after wisdom and change of 
 the mind. And this disposition is in God's children 
 at all times. And for affections, love of that which 
 is good, and hatred of that which is evil ; these like- 
 wise have a settled continuance in the soul. But grief 
 and sorrow rise and fall as fresh occasions are offered, 
 and are more lively stirred up upon some lively re- 
 presentation to the soul of some hurt we receive by 
 sin, and wrong we do to God in it. The reason 
 hereof is, because till the soul be separated from the 
 body, these affections have more communion with 
 the body, and therefore they carry more outward ex- 
 pressions than dislike or abomination in the mind 
 doth. We are to judge of ourselves more by that 
 which is constant, than by that which is ebbing and 
 flowing. 
 
 But what is the reason that the affections do not 
 always follow the judgment, and the choice or re- 
 fusal of the will ? 
 
 1. Our soul being a finite substance, is carried with 
 strength but one way at one time. 
 
 2. Sometimes God calls us to joy as well as to grief: 
 and then no wonder if grief be somewhat to seek. 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 221 
 
 3. Sometimes when God calleth to grief, and the 
 judgment and will goeth along with God, yet the 
 heart is not always ready, because, it may be, it hath 
 run out so far that it cannot presently be called in 
 again. 
 
 4. Or, the spirits, which are the instruments of the 
 soul, may be so wasted that they cannot hold out to 
 feed a strong grief; in which case, the conscience 
 must rest in settled judgment and hatred of ill ; which 
 is the surest and never failing character of a good soul. 
 
 5. Of times God in mercy takes us off from grief 
 and sorrow, by refreshing occasions : because sorrow 
 and grief are affections very much afflicting both of 
 body and soul. 
 
 When is godly sorrow in that degree wherein the 
 soul may stay itself from uncomfortable thoughts 
 about its condition ? 
 
 1. When we find strength against that sin which 
 formerly we fell into, and ability to walk in a con- 
 trary way : for this answers God's end in grief, one 
 of which is a prevention from falling for the time to 
 come. For God hath that affection in him which he 
 puts into parents, which is by smart to prevent their 
 children's boldness of offending for the time to come. 
 
 2. When that which is wanting in grief is made 
 up in fear. Here there is no great cause of com- 
 plaint of the want of grief, for this holy affection is 
 the awe-band of the soul, whereby it is kept from 
 starting from God and his ways. 
 
 3. When after grief vv^e find inward peace ; for true 
 grief being God's work in us, he knows best how to 
 measure it. Therefore, whatsoever frame God brings 
 my soul into, I am to rest in his goodness, and not 
 except against his dealing. That peace and joy 
 
222 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 which risethfrom grief in the use of means, and makes 
 the soul more humble and thankful to God, and less 
 censorious and more pitiful to others, is no illusion 
 nor false light. 
 
 The main end of grief and sorrow is to make us 
 value the grace and mercy of God in Christ, above 
 all the contentments which sin feeds on. Which, 
 where it is found, we may know that grief for sin, 
 hath enough possessed the soul before. The suffi- 
 ciency of things is to be judged by an answerableness 
 to their use and ends : God makes sin better, that 
 Christ may be sweet ; that measure of grief and sor- 
 row is sufficient, which brings us, and holds us to 
 Christ, 
 
 Hatred, being the strongest, deepest, and steadiest 
 affection of the soul against that which is evil ; grief 
 for sin is then right, when it springs from hatred, and 
 increaseth further hatred against it. 
 
 Now the soul may be known to hate sin, when it 
 seeks the utter abolishing of it ; for hatred is an impla- 
 cable and irreconcileable affection. 
 
 True hatred is carried against the whole kind of sin, 
 without respect of any wrong done to us, but only out 
 of a mere antipathy, and contrariety of disposition to 
 it. As the lamb hatetli the whole kind of wolves, and 
 man hateth the whole kind of serpents. A toad does 
 us no harm, but yet we hate it. 
 
 That which is hateful to us, the nearer it is the more 
 we shun and abhor it, as venomous serpents, and 
 hurtful creatures, because the nearness of the object 
 affects us more deeply. Therefore, if our grief spring 
 from true hatred of sin, it will make no new league 
 with it, but grieve for all sin, especially for our own 
 particular sins, as being contrary to the work of God's 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 223 
 
 grace in us, then is grief an affection of the new crea- 
 ture, and every way of the right breed. 
 
 But for fuller satisfaction in this case, we must know 
 there is sometimes grief for sin in 2ts, when we think 
 there is none : it wants but stirring up by some quick- 
 ening word ; the remembrance of God's favours and 
 our unkindness, or the aw^akingofour consciences by 
 some cross, will raise up this aiFection feehngly in us. 
 As in the affection of love many think that they have 
 no love to God at all : yet let God be dishonoured in 
 his name, truth, or children, and their love will soon 
 stir and appear in just anger. 
 
 In want of grief for sin, we must remember, 1. 
 That we must have this affection from God, before 
 we can bring it unto God. 
 
 And, therefore, in the second place, our chief care 
 should be not to harden our hearts against the motions 
 of the spirit, stirring us to seasonable grief, for that 
 may cause a judicial hardness from God. God oft 
 inflicteth some spiritual judgment as a correction 
 upon men, for not yielding to his Spirit at the first, 
 they feel a hardness of heart growing upon them : this 
 made the Church complain. Why hast thou hardened 
 our hearts from thy fear ? Which if christians did 
 well consider, they would more carefully entertain 
 such impressions of sorrow, as the Spirit in the use of 
 the means, and observation of God's deahng towards 
 themselves or others, shall work in them, than they 
 do. It is a saying of Austin, Let a man grieve for his 
 si7i, and joy for his grief, though we can neither love, 
 nor grieve, nor joy of ourselves, as we should, yet 
 our hearts tell us, we are often guilty of giving a 
 check to the spirits stirring these affections in us, 
 which is a main cause of the many sharp afflictions we 
 
224 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 endure in this life, though God's love in the main mat- 
 ter of salvation be most firm unto us. 
 
 We must not think to have all this grief at first, 
 and at once, for oftentimes it is deeper after a sight 
 and feeling of God's love than it was before. God is 
 a free agent, and knows every man's several mould, 
 and the several services he is to use them in, and oft 
 takes liberty afterwards to humble men more (when 
 he hath enabled them better to bear it) than in their 
 first entrance into religion : grief before springs com- 
 monly from self-love, and fear of danger. Let no 
 man suspect his estate because God spares him in the 
 beginning. For Christians many times meet with 
 greater trial after their conversion than ever they 
 thought on. When men take little fines, they mean 
 to take the greater rent, God will have his children 
 first or last to feel what sin is ; and how much they 
 are beholden to him for Christ. 
 
 This grief doth not always arise from poring on 
 sin, but by oft considering of the infinite goodness 
 of God in Christ, and thereby reflecting on our own 
 unworthiness, not only in regard' of sin past, but like- 
 wise of the sin that hangeth upon us, and issues daily 
 from us. The more holy a man is, the more he sees 
 the holiness of God's nature, with whom he desires 
 to have communion, the more he is grieved that there 
 should be anything found in him, displeasing to so 
 pure a Majesty. 
 
 And as all our grief comes not at first, so God 
 will not have it come all at once, but to be a stream 
 always running, fed with a spring, yet within the 
 banks, though sometimes deeper, sometimes shallower. 
 Grief for sin is like a constant stream ; grief for other 
 things is like a torrent, or swelling waters, which are 
 
 I 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 225 
 
 soon up, soon down ; what it wants in greatness is 
 made up in continuance. 
 
 Again, if we watch not our nature, there will be 
 a spice of popery (which is a natural religion) in this 
 great desire of more grief: as if we had that, then 
 we had something to satisfy God withal, and so our 
 minds will run too much upon works. This grief 
 must not only be wrought by God revealing our sin, 
 and his mercy unto us in Christ; but when it is 
 wrought, we must altogether rest (in a sense of our 
 own emptiness) upon the full satisfaction and worthi- 
 ness of Christ our Saviour. 
 
 All this that hath been said tends not to the aba- 
 ting of our desire to have a tender and bleeding heart 
 for sin ; but that in the pursuit of this desire, we be 
 not cast down so as to question our estates, if we 
 feel not that measure of grief which we desire and 
 endeavour after, or to refuse our portion of joy 
 which God offers us in Christ. Considering grief is 
 no further good than it makes way for joy : which 
 caused our Saviour to join them together : blessed 
 are the mourners, for they shall be comforted. Being 
 thus disposed, we may commit our souls to God in 
 peace, notwithstanding Satan's troubling of us in the 
 hour of temptation. 
 
 CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 Other spiritual Causes of the Soul's Trouble disco- 
 vered and removed: and Objections answered. 
 
 ANOTHER thing that disquiets and casts down 
 the soul very much, is that inward conflict 
 betwixt grace and corruption : this makes us most 
 work, and puts us to most disquietment. It is the 
 Q 
 
226 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 trouble of troubles to have two inhabitants so near in 
 one soul, and these to strive one against another, in 
 every action, and at all times in every part and power 
 in us : the one carrying us upward, higher and higher 
 still, till we come to God : the other pulHng us lower 
 and lower, further from him. This cannot but breed 
 a great disquiet, when a Christian shall be put on 
 to that which he would not, and hindered from that 
 which he would do, or troubled in the performance 
 of it, Rom. vii. The more Hght there is to discern, 
 and life of grace to be sensible hereof; and the more 
 love of Christ, and desire from love to be like to him, 
 the more irksome will this be : no wonder then that 
 the apostle cried out, luretched man that I am, 
 &:c. Rom. vii. 
 
 Here is a special use of trust, in the free mercy of 
 God in justification, considering all is stained that 
 comes from us, it is one main end of God's leaving 
 us in this conflicting condition, that we may live and 
 die by faith in the perfect righteousness of Christ, 
 whereby we glorify God more, than if we had perfect 
 righteousness of our own. Hereby likewise we are 
 driven to make^use of all the promises of grace, and 
 to trust in God for the performance of them, in 
 strengthening his own party in us, and not only to 
 trust in God for particular graces, but for his Spirit 
 which is the spring of all graces, which we have 
 through and from Christ : who will help us in this 
 fio^ht until he hath made us like himself. We are 
 under the government of grace, sin is deposed from 
 the rule it had, and shall never recover the right it 
 had again ; it is left in us for matter of exercise, 
 and ground of triumph. 
 
 Oh (say some) / shall never hold out, as good 
 
THE SOUL*S CONFLICT. 227 
 
 give over at first as at last, I find such strong incli- 
 nations to sin in me, and such weakness to resist 
 temptation, that I fear I shall but shame the 
 cause ; I shall one day perish by the hand of Satan, 
 strengthening my corruption. 
 
 Why art thou thus troubled? Trust in God, 
 grace will be above nature, God above the devil, the 
 Spirit above the flesh. Be strong in the Lord, the 
 battle is his, and the victory ours beforehand. If we 
 fought in our own cause and strength, and with our 
 weapons, it were something : but as we fight in the 
 power of God, so are we kept by that onighty power 
 through faith unto salvation. It lies upon the faith- 
 fulness of Christ, to put us into that possession of 
 glory which he hath purchased for us : therefore 
 charge the soul to make use of the promises, and 
 rely upon God for perfecting the good work that he 
 hath begun in thee. 
 
 Corruptions be strong, but stronger is he that is in 
 us, than that corruption that is in us. When we 
 are weak in our own sense, then are we strong in 
 him, who perfecteth strength in our weakness felt and 
 acknowledged. Our corruptions are God's enemies 
 as well as ours, and therefore in trusting to him, and 
 fighting against them, we may be sure he will take 
 our part against them. 
 
 But I have great impediments, and many dis- 
 couragements in my Christian course. 
 
 What if our impediments be mountains, faith is 
 able to remove them ; who art thou, mountain ? 
 Zac. iv. 7, saith the prophet. What a world of im- 
 pediments were there betwixt Egypt and the land of 
 Canaan, betwixt the return out of Babylon and Je- 
 rusalem ? yet faith removed all, by looking to God's 
 
228 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 power and truth in his promise. The looking too 
 much to the^Anakims and giants, and too httle to 
 God's omnipotency, shut the Israehtes out of Ca- 
 naan, and put God to his oath, that they should 
 never enter into his rest, Psalm xxv, and it will ex- 
 clude our souls from happiness at length, if looking 
 too much upon these Anakims within us and without 
 us, we basely despair and give over the field, consi- 
 dering all our enemies are not only conquered for us 
 by our head, but shall be conquered in us, so that in 
 strength of assistance we fight against them. God 
 gave the Israelites' enemies into their hands ; but yet 
 they must fight it out, and what coward will not 
 fight when he is sure of help and victory ? 
 
 But I carry continually about me a corrupt heart, 
 if that were once changed, I could have some com- 
 fort. 
 
 A new heart is God's creature, and he hath pro- 
 mised to create it in us. A creating power cannot 
 only bring something out of nothing, but contrary out 
 of contrary. Where we are sure of God's truth, let 
 us never question that power to which all things are 
 possible. If our hearts were as ill, as God is power- 
 ful and good, there were some ground of discourage- 
 ment. In what measure we give up our hearts to 
 God, in that measure we are sure to receive them 
 better. That grace which enlargeth the heart to de- 
 sire good, is therefore given, that God may increase 
 it, being both a part and a pledge of further grace. 
 There is a promise of pouring clean water upon us, 
 which faith must sue out. Christ hath taken upon 
 him to purge his spouse, and make her fit for him- 
 self, Eph. V. 
 
 But I have many wants and defects to be supplied. 
 
THE soul's conflict. 229 
 
 It pleaseth him, that in Christ all fulness shall 
 dwell, from whose fulness grace sufficient is dispensed 
 to us, answerable to the measure of our faith, whereby 
 we fetch it from the fountain. The more we trust, 
 the more we have. When we look therefore to our 
 own want, we should look withal to Christ's fulness, 
 and his nearness to us, and take advantage from our 
 misery to rest upon his all-sufficiency, whose fulness 
 is ours, as himself is. Our fulness with our hfe is 
 hid in Christ, and distilled into us, in such measure 
 as his wisdom thinketh fit, and as showeth him to be 
 a free agent, and yet so as the blame for want of 
 grace lieth upon us, seeing he is beforehand with us 
 in his offers of grace, and our own consciences will 
 tell us, that our failings are more from cherishing of 
 some lust, than from unwiUingness in him to supply 
 us with grace. 
 
 But God is of pure eyes, and cannot endure such 
 services as I perforrn. 
 
 Though God be of pure eyes, yet he looks upon us 
 in him who is blameless and without spot, who by 
 virtue of his sweet-smelling sacrifice, appears for us 
 in heaven, and mingles his odours with our services, 
 and in him will God be known to us by the name of 
 a kind father, not only in pardoning our defects, but 
 accepting our endeavours. We offer our services to 
 God, not in our own name, but in the name of our 
 high priest, who takes them from us, and presents 
 them to his Father, as stirred up by his spirit, and 
 perfumed by his obedience. Jonas's prayer was 
 mingled with a great deal of passion and imperfection, 
 yet God could discern something of his own in it, and 
 pity and pardon the rest. 
 
230 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 Of outivard Troubles disquieting the Spirit : and 
 Comforts in them. 
 
 AS for the outward evils that we meet withal in 
 this life, they are either such, 1. ^5 deprive us. 
 of the comforts our nature is supported withal ; or 
 else, 2. they bring such misery upon our nature or 
 condition that hinders our well-being in this world. 
 
 For the first, trust in God, and take out of his all- 
 sufficiency whatsoever we want. Sure we are by his 
 promise, that we shall want nothing that is good. 
 What he takes away one way, he can give another ; 
 what he takes away in one hand, he can give another ; 
 what he withholds one way, he can supply in a better. 
 Whatsoever comfort we have in goods, friends, health, 
 or any other blessings, it is all conveyed by him ; who 
 still remains, though these be taken from us. And 
 we have him bound in many promises for all that is 
 needful for us. We may sue him upon his own bond ; 
 can we think that he who will give us a kingdom, 
 will fail us in necessary provision to bring us thither, 
 who himself is our portion ? 
 
 As for those miseries which our weak nature is 
 subject to, they are all under Christ; they come and 
 go at his command ; they are his messengers, sent 
 for our good, and called back again when they have 
 done what they came for. Therefore look not so 
 much upon them, as to him for strength and comfort 
 in them, mitigation of them, and grace to profit by 
 them. 
 
 To strengthen our faith the more in God, he calleth 
 himself a buckler for defence from ill, and an exceed- 
 
THE soul's conflict. 231 
 
 ing great reward for a supply of all good. A sun 
 for the one, and a shield for the other. Trust him 
 then with health, wealth, good name, all that thou 
 hast. It is not in man to take away that from us 
 which God will give us, and keep for us. It is not 
 in man's power to make others conceive what they 
 please of us. 
 
 Among crosses, this is that which disquieteth not 
 the mind least, to be deceived in matter of trust, 
 when as if we had not trusted, we had not been de- 
 ceived. The very fear of being disappointed, made 
 David in his haste think all men were liars, Psalm 
 cxvi. But as it is a sharp cross, so nothing will 
 drive us nearer unto God, who never faileth his. 
 
 Friends often prove as the reed of Egypt, as a 
 broken staff, and as a deceitful brook, Job vi. 15, 
 that fails the weary passenger in summer-time, when 
 there is most need of refreshing ; and it is the unhap- 
 piness of men, otherwise happy in the world, that 
 during their prosperous condition, they know not who 
 be their friends, for when their condition declines, it 
 plainly appears, that many were friends of their es- 
 tates, and not of their persons : but when men will 
 know us least, God will know us most; he knows 
 our souls in adversity, and knows them so as to sup- 
 port and comfort them, and that from the spring-head 
 of comfort, whereby the sweetest comforts are fetched. 
 What God conveyed before by friends, that he doth 
 nov/ instil immediately from himself. The immediate 
 comforts are the strongest comforts. Our Saviour 
 Christ told his disciples, that they would leave him 
 alone ; yet, saith he, / am not alone, but the Father 
 is with me. At St. Paul's first appealing all forsook 
 hi7n, but the Lord stood by him. He wants no com- 
 
232 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 pany that hath Christ for his companion. / looked 
 for some to take pity, saith David, but there was 
 none. This unfaithfulness of man is a foil to set out 
 God's truth, who is never nearer than when trouble 
 is nearest; there is not so much as a shadow of 
 change in him or his love. 
 
 It is just with God when we lay too much weight 
 of confidence upon any creature, to let us have the 
 greater fall ; man may fail us and yet be a good man, 
 but God cannot fail us and be God, because he is 
 truth itself. Shall God be so true to us, and shall 
 not we be true to him and his truth ? 
 
 The like may be said in the departure of our friends. 
 Our hfe is oft too much in the hfe of others, which 
 God takes unkindly : how many friends have we in 
 him alone ? who rather than we shall want friends, 
 can make our enemies our friends. A true believer 
 is to Christ as his mother, brother, and sister, because 
 he carries that affection to them, as if they were mo- 
 ther, brother, and sister, to him indeed. As Christ 
 makes us all to him, so should we make him all in all 
 to ourselves. If all comforts in the world were dead, 
 we have them still in the living Lord. 
 
 Sicknesses are harbingers of death, and in the apt 
 prehension of many they be the greatest troubles, and 
 tame great spirits, that nothing else could tame \ 
 herein we are more to deal with God than with men, 
 which is one comfort sickness yieldeth above other 
 troubles. It is better to be troubled with the distem-» 
 pers of our own bodies, than with the distempers of 
 other men's souls ; in which we have not only to deal 
 with men, but with the devil himself, that ruleth in 
 the humours of men. 
 
 The example of Asa teaches us in this case not to 
 
THE soul's conflict. 233 
 
 lay too much trust upon the physician, but with Heze- 
 kiah first look up to God, and then use the means. 
 If God will give us a quietus est, and take us off' from 
 business by sickness, then we have a time of serving 
 God by patient subjection to his will. If he means to 
 use our service any further, he will restore our health 
 and strength to do that work he sets us about. Health 
 is at his command, and sickness stays at his rebuke. 
 In the mean, the time of sickness is a time of purging 
 from that defilement we gathered in our health, till 
 we come purer out ; which should move us the rather 
 willingly to abide God's time. Blessed is that sick- 
 ness that proves the health of the soul. We are best, 
 for the most part, when we are weakest. Then it ap- 
 pears what good proficients we have been in time of 
 health. 
 
 Carnal men are oft led along by false hopes sug- 
 gested by others, and cherished by themselves, that 
 they shall live still, and do well, till death comes and 
 cuts off* their vain confidence and their life both at 
 once, before ever they are acquainted what it is to 
 trust in God aright, in the use of means. We should 
 labour to learn of St. Paul in desperate cases, to re- 
 ceive the sentence of death, and not to trust in our- 
 selves, but in God that raiseth the dead. He that 
 raiseth our dead bodies out of the grave, can raise 
 our diseased bodies out of the bed of sickness, if he 
 hath a pleasure to serve himself by us. 
 
 In all kind of troubles, it is not the ingredients that 
 God puts into the cup so much afflicts us, as the in- 
 gredients of our distempered passions mingled with 
 them. The sting and core of them all is sin : when 
 that is not only pardoned, but in some measure healed, 
 and the pvoud flesh eaten out, then a healthy soul 
 
234 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 will bear anything. After repentance, that trouble 
 that before was a correction, becomes now a trial and 
 exercise of grace. Strike , Lord, saith Luther, / bear 
 anything willingly, because my sins are forgiven. 
 We should not be cast down so much about outward 
 troubles, as about sin, that both procures them and 
 envenoms them. We see by experience, when con- 
 science is once set at liberty, how cheerfully men will 
 go under any burthen ; therefore labour to keep out 
 sin, and then let come what will come. 
 
 It is the foolish wisdom of the world to prevent 
 trouble by sin, which is the way indeed to pull the 
 greatest trouble upon us. For sin dividing betwixt 
 God and us, moveth him to leave the soul to entangle 
 itself in its own ways. When the conscience is clear, 
 then there is nothing between God and us to hinder 
 our trust. Outward troubles rather drive us nearer 
 unto God, and stand with his love. But sin defileth 
 the soul, and sets it further from God. It is well- 
 doing that enables us to commit our souls cheerfully 
 unto him. Whatsoever our outward condition be, 
 if our hearts condemn us not, we may have bold- 
 ness with God, In any trouble our care should be 
 not to avoid the trouble : but sinful miscarriage in 
 and about the trouble, and so trust God. It is a 
 heavy condition to be under the burthen of trouble, 
 and under the burthen of a guilty conscience both at 
 once. When men will walk in the light of their own 
 fire, and the sparks which they have kifidled them- 
 selves, it is just with God that they should lie down 
 in sorrow. 
 
 Whatsoever injuries we suffer from those that are 
 ill affected to us, let us commit our cause to the God 
 of vengeance, and not meddle with his prerogative.^ 
 
THE soul's conflict. 235 
 
 He will revenge our cause better than we can, and 
 more perhaps than we desire. The wronged side is 
 the safer side. If, instead of meditating revenge, we 
 can so overcome ourselves as to pray for our enemies, 
 and deserve well of them, we shall both sweeten our 
 own spirits, and prevent a sharp temptation which we 
 are prone unto, and have an undoubted argument that 
 we are sons of that Father that doth good to his 
 enemies, and members of that Saviour that prayed for 
 his persecutors. And withal by heaping coals upon 
 our enemies, shall melt them either to conversion or 
 to confusion. 
 
 But the greatest trial of trust is in our last encounter 
 with death, wherein we shall find not only a depriva- 
 tion of all comforts in this life, but a confluence of 
 all ill at once, but we must know, God will be the 
 God of his unto death, and not only unto death, but in 
 death. We may trust God the Father with our bodies ' 
 and souls which he hath created ; and God the Son, 
 with the bodies and souls which he hath redeemed : 
 and the holy Spirit, with those bodies and souls that 
 he hath sanctified. We are not disquieted when we 
 put off our clothes and go to bed, because we trust 
 God's ordinary providence to raise us up again. And 
 why should we be disquieted when we put off our 
 bodies, and sleep our last sleep, considering we are 
 more sure to rise out of our graves, than out of our 
 beds ? Nay, we are raised up already in Christ our 
 head ; who is the resurrection and the life, in whom 
 we may triumph over death, that triumpheth over the 
 greatest monarchs as a disarmed and conquered 
 enemy. Death is the death of itself, and not of us. 
 If we would have faith ready to die by, we must ex- 
 ercise it well in living by it, and then it will no more 
 
236 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 fail us than the good things we lay hold on by it, 
 until it hath brought us into heaven, where that office 
 of it is laid aside : here is the prerogative of a true 
 christian above a hypocrite and a worldling, when 
 as their trust, and the thing they trust in, fails them, 
 then a true believer's trust stands him in greatest 
 stead. 
 
 In regard of our state after death, a christian need 
 not be disquieted, for the angels are ready to do their 
 office in carrying his soul to paradise, those mansions 
 prepared for him. His Saviour will be his judge, 
 and the head will not condemn the members : then 
 he is to receive the fruit and end of his faith, the 
 reward of his hope ; which is so great and so sure, 
 that our trusting in God for that, strengtheneth the 
 heart to trust him for all other things in our passage ; 
 so that the refreshing of our faith in these great things, 
 refreshes its dependence upon God for all things here 
 below. And how strong helps have we to uphold our 
 faith in those great things which we are not able to 
 conceive of, till we come to possess them ? Is not 
 our husband there ? and hath he not taken possession 
 for us ? Doth he not keep our place for us ? Is not 
 our flesh there in him ? and his spirit below with us ? 
 have we not some first-fruits and earnest of it before 
 hand? Is not Christ now fitting and preparing of 
 us daily, for what he hath prepared and keeps for 
 us ? Whither tends all we meet with in this world, 
 that comes betwixt us and heaven, as desertions, in- 
 ward conflicts, outward troubles, and death at last, but 
 to fit us for a better condition hereafter, and by faith 
 therein to stir up a strong desire after it ? Comfort 
 one another with these things, saith tlie apostle, 1 Thes, 
 iv. 18 ; these be the things will comfort the soul. 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 237 
 
 CHAP. XXV. 
 
 Of the defects of Gifts, disquieting the Soul, As 
 also the Afflictions of the Church, 
 
 AMONG other things, there is nothing more dis- 
 quiets a christian, that is called to the fellow- 
 ship of Christ and his Church here, and to glory 
 hereafter, than that he sees himself unfurnished with 
 those gifts that are fit for the calling of a saint ; as 
 likewise for that particular standing and place wherein 
 God hath set him in this world, by being a member 
 of a body politic. 
 
 For our christian calling, we must know that Chris- 
 tianity is a matter rather of grace than of gifts, of obe- 
 dience than of parts. Gifts may come from a more 
 common work of the Spirit, they are common to 
 castaways, and are more for others than for ourselves. 
 Grace comes from a pecuhar favour of God, and 
 especially for our own good. In the same duty, 
 where there is required gifts and grace, as in prayer, 
 one may perform it with evidence of greater grace, 
 than another of greater parts. Moses, a man not of 
 the best speech, was chosen before Aaron, to speak to 
 God, Exod. vii. 11 ; and to strive with him by prayer, 
 whilst Israel fought with Amalek with the sword. 
 It is a business more of the heart than of the tongue, 
 more of groans than of words, which groans and 
 sighs, the spirit will always stir up even in the worst 
 condition. Yet for parts there is no member, but 
 it is fitted with some abilities, to do service in the 
 body, and by faith may grow up to a greater mea- 
 sure. For God calls none to that high condition, 
 but whom in some measure he fits to be a useful 
 member, and endows with a pubhc spirit* 
 
238 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 But that is the measure which Christ thinks fit; 
 who will make up that in the body which is wanting 
 in any particular member. God will increase the 
 measure of our gifts, as occasion shall be offered to 
 draw them forth : for there is not the greatest but 
 may have use both of the parts and graces of the 
 meanest in the church. And here the soul may by 
 a spirit of faith go to God in this manner : Lord, the 
 estate of Christianity unto which thy love in Christ 
 hath called and advanced me, is a high condition; 
 and there is need of a great measure of grace to up- 
 hold the credit and comfort of it. Whom thou call- 
 est unto it, thou dost in some measure furnish to 
 walk worthy of it. Let this be an evidence to my 
 soul of the truth of thy call, that I am enabled by the 
 Spirit for those duties that are required; in confi- 
 dence of which assistance, I will set upon the work : 
 thou hast promised to give wisdom to them that ask 
 it, and to upbraid none with their unworthiness. 
 Nay, thou hast promised the Spirit of all grace to 
 those that beg it, Jam. i. 5 ; it is that which I need, 
 and it is no more than thou hast promised. 
 
 Only it must be remembered, that we do not walk 
 above our parts and graces, the issue whereof will be 
 discouragement in ourselves, and disgrace from others. 
 
 The like may be said for our particular calling, 
 wherein we are to express the graces of our Christian 
 calhng, and serve one another in love, Gal. v. 13, as 
 members of the state as well as of the church ; there- 
 fore every one must have, 1. a calling; 2. a lawful; 
 3. a useful calling ; 4. a calling fitted for his parts, 
 that he may be even for his business ; 5. a lawful en- 
 trance, and calling thereunto ; 6. and a lawful de- 
 meanour in the same. Though the orb and sphere 
 we walk in be little, yet we must keep within the 
 
THE SOUL^S CONFLICT. 239 
 
 bounds of it, because for our carriage in that, we 
 must give a strict account, and there is no calling so 
 mean but a man shall find enough to give a good 
 account for. Our care must be to know our work, 
 and then to do it, and so to do it as if it were unto 
 God ; with conscience of moderate diligence for over- 
 doing and over-working anything, comes either from 
 ostentation or distrust in God : and negligence is so 
 far from getting any blessing, that it brings us under 
 a ciirse for doing God's work negligently^ Jer. xlviii. 
 10. For we must think our callings to be services of 
 God, who hath appointed us our standing therein. 
 
 That which belongs to us in our calling is care of 
 discharging our duty ; that which God takes upon 
 him is assistance and good success in it. Let us do 
 our work, and leave God to do his own. Diligence 
 and trust in him is only ours, the rest of the burthen 
 is his. In a family the father's and the master's care 
 is the greatest, the child's care is only to obey, and 
 the servant's to do his work, care of provision and 
 protection doth nqt trouble them. Most of our dis- 
 quietness in our calling is, that we trouble ourselves 
 about God's work. Trust God and be doing, and 
 let him alone with the rest. He stands upon his 
 credit so much, that it shall appear we have not 
 trusted him in vain, even when we see no appearance 
 of doing any good. Peter fished all night and catched 
 nothing, yet upon Christ's word he casts in his net 
 again, and caught so many fish as break his net, 
 Luke V. 6. Covetousness, when men will be richer 
 than God would have them, troubles all, it troubles 
 the house J the whole family, and the house within us, 
 our precious soul, which should be a quiet house for 
 God's spirit to dwell in, whose seat is a quiet spirit. 
 
240 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 If men would follow Christ's method, and seek first 
 the kingdom of heaven, Matt. vi. 33, all other things 
 would be cast upon them. If thoughts of insuffi- 
 ciency in our places discourage us, remember what 
 God saith to Moses, when he pretended disability to 
 speak, who hath made mans mouth, have not I the 
 Lord? Exod. iv. 11. All our sufficiency for every 
 calling is from God. 
 
 But you will say, though by God's Messing my 
 particular condition be comfortable, yet the state of 
 God's people abroad, and the miseries of the times 
 disquiet me. 
 
 We complain of the times, but let us take heed we 
 be not a part of the misery of the times : that they 
 be not the worse for us. Indeed he is a dead mem- 
 ber that takes not to heart the ill of the times, yet 
 here is place for that complaint, help, Lord, Psalm 
 xii. In these tempests do as the disciples did, cry to 
 Christ to rebuke the tempests and storms. This is 
 the day of Jacob's trouble, let it also be the day of 
 Jacob's trust ; let the body do as the head did in the 
 like case, and in time it shall be with the body as it- 
 is with the head. 
 
 In this case it is good to lay before God all the 
 promises made to his church, with the examples of 
 his presence in it, and deliverance of the same in 
 former times. God is never nearer his church than 
 when trouble is near : when in earth they conclude 
 an utter overthrow, God is in heaven concluding a 
 glorious deliverance : usually after the lowest ebb, 
 follows the highest spring- tide. Christ stands upon 
 Mount Zion. There is a counsel in heaven, that will 
 dash the mould of all contrary counsels on earth ; 
 and which is more, God will work the raising of the 
 
THE soul's conflict. 241 
 
 Church, by that very means by which his enemies 
 seek to ruin it. Let us stand still and behold the 
 salvation of the Lord. God gave too dear a price 
 for his Church, to suifer it long in the hands of mer- 
 ciless enemies. 
 
 As for the seeming flourishing of the enemies of 
 God's Church, it is but for a time, and that a short 
 time, and a measured time. The wicked plot against 
 the just, Psalm xxxvii. 12 ; they are plotters and 
 ploughers of mischief, Job iv. 8 : they are skilful 
 and industrious in it, but they reap their own ruin. 
 Their day is a coming, Psalm xxxvii. 12, and their 
 joit is in digging, Psalm xciv. 13; take heed therefore 
 o^ fretting, Psalm xxxvii. 7; because of the man ^/m^ 
 bringeth wicked devices to pass, for the arms of the 
 wicked shall be broken,* Psalm xxxvii. 17. We 
 should help our faith by observing God's executing 
 of judgment in this kind. It cannot but vex the 
 enemies of the Church, to see at length a disappointing 
 of their projects, but then to see the mould of all 
 their devices turned upon their own heads, will more 
 torment them. 
 
 In this case, it will much comfort to 2:0 into the 
 sanctuary, for there we shall be able to say. Yet God 
 is good to Israel, Psalm Ixxiii. God hath an ark for 
 his, there is no condition so ill, but there is balm in 
 Gilead, comfort in Israel. The depths of misery 
 are never beyond the depths of mercy . God oft for 
 this very end, strips his Church of all helps below, 
 that it may only rely upon him : and that it may 
 appear that the Church is ruled by a higher power 
 than it is opposed by. And then is' the time lohen 
 
 * Head Psalms x. xxxvii. xciv. cxxix. &c. 
 11 
 
1 
 
 242 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 we may expect great deliverances of the Church, 
 when there is a great faith in the great God, 
 
 From all that hath been said, we see that the only 
 way to quiet the soul is, to lay a charge upon it to 
 trust God, and that unquietness and impatiency are 
 symptoms and discoveries of an unbelieving heart. 
 
 CHAP. XXVI. 
 
 Of divine Reasons in a Believer, Of his minding 
 to jjraise God, more than to be delivered. 
 
 TO go on [/ shall yet praise him,] 
 In these words David expresseth the reasons 
 and grounds of his trust, namely from the interest 
 he had in God by experience and special covenant : 
 wherein in general we may observe, that those who 
 truly trust in God, labour to back their faith with 
 sound arguments ; faith is an understanding grace, 
 it knows whom it trusts, and for what, and upon 
 what grounds it trusts : reason of itself cannot find 
 what we should believe, yet when God hath disco- 
 vered the same, faith tells us there is great reason to 
 believe it ; faith useth reason though not as a ground, 
 yet as a sanctified instrument to find out God's 
 grounds, that it may rely upon them. He believes 
 best, that knows best why he should believe ; confi- 
 dence, and love, and other affections of the soul, 
 though they have no reason grafted in them, yet thus 
 far they are reasonable, as that they are in a wise 
 man raised up, guided, and laid down with reason ; 
 or else men were neither to be blamed nor praised 
 for ordering their aftections aright ; whereas not only 
 civil virtue, but grace itself is especially conversant 
 in ruhng the affections by sanctified reason. 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 243 
 
 The soul g^uides the will and affections otherwise 
 than it doth the outward members of the body. It 
 sways the affections of confidence, love, joy, &c. as 
 a prince doth his wiser subjects, and as counsellors do 
 a well ordered state by ministering reasons to them ; 
 but the soul governs the outward members by com- 
 mand, as a master doth a slave, his will is enough. 
 The hand and foot move upon command, without 
 regarding any reason ; but we will not trust and re- 
 joice in God without reason, or a show of reason at 
 the least. 
 
 Sin itself never wanted a reason, such as it is, but 
 we call it unreasonable, because it hath no good rea- 
 son for it ; for reason being a beam of God, cannot 
 strengthen any work of darkness. God having made 
 man an understanding creature, guides him by a 
 way suitable to such a condition, and that is the 
 reason why God in mercy yields so far to us in his 
 word, as to give us so many reasons of our affiance 
 in him. What is encouragement and comfort, but 
 a demonstration to us of greater reasons to raise us 
 up, than there are to cast us down ? 
 
 David's reasons here are drawn partly from some 
 promise of deliverance, and partly from God's nature 
 and dealing with him, whom, as he had formerly 
 found a healing and a saving God, so he expects to 
 find him still ; and partly from the covenant of grace ^ 
 he is my God. 
 
 The chief of his reasons are fetched from God, 
 what he is in himself, and what he is and will be to 
 his children, and what to him in particular; though 
 godly men have reasons for their trust, yet those rea- 
 sons be divine and spiritual as faith itself is ; for a$ 
 naturally as beams come from the sun, and branches 
 
244 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 from tffe root, even so by divine discourse one truth 
 issuethfrom another. And as the beams and the sun, 
 as the root and branches are all of one nature, so the 
 grounds of comfortable truths, and reasons taken 
 from those grounds, are both of the same divinity 
 and authority, though in time of temptation discourse 
 is oft so troubled, that it cannot see how one truth 
 'riseth from another; this is one privilege of heaven, 
 that our knowledge there shall not be so much dis- 
 coursive, proving one thing by another, as definitive, 
 seeing things in their grounds with a more present 
 view : the soul being then raised and enlarged to a 
 present conceiving of things, and there being no flesh 
 and blood in us to raise objections that must be sa- 
 tisfied with reasoning. 
 
 Sometimes in a clearer state of the soul, faith hath 
 not so much use of reasons, but upon near and sweet 
 communion with God, and by reason of some 
 likeness between the soul that hath a divine nature 
 stamped upon it, that soul presently, without any 
 long discourse, runneth to God as it were by a super- 
 natural instinct, as by a natural instinct a child run- 
 neth to his father in any distress. Yea, and from that 
 common light of nature, which disco vereth there is 
 a God, even natural men in extremities will run to 
 God, and God as the author of nature will some- 
 times hear them, as he doth the young ravens, that 
 cry unto him ; but comfortably, and with assurance 
 only those have a familiar recourse unto him, that 
 have a sanctified suitable disposition unto God, as 
 being well acquainted with him. 
 
 Sometimes again faith is put to it to use reasons 
 to strengthen itself, and therefore the soul studieth 
 arguments to help itself by, either from inward store 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 245 
 
 laid up in the soul, or else it hearkeneth and yields 
 to reason suggested by others ; and there is no gra- 
 cious heart but hath a frame suitable and agreeable 
 to any holy and comfortable truth that shall be 
 brought and enforced upon it ; there is something in 
 his spirit that answers whatever comes from the spirit 
 of God : though perhaps it never heard of it before, 
 yet it presently claims kindred of it, as coming from 
 the same blessed spring, the Holy Spirit ; and there- 
 fore a gracious heart sooner takes comfort than 
 another, as being prepared to close with it. 
 
 The reasons here brought by David, are not so 
 much arguments to convince his judgment, as motives 
 and inducements to incline his will to trust in God : 
 for trusting being a holy relying upon God, carrieth 
 especially the will to him ; now the will is led with 
 the goodness of things, as the understanding is led 
 with truth ; the heart must be sweetened with con- 
 sideration of love and mercy in him whom we trust, 
 as well as convinced of his ability to do us good, the 
 cords that draw the heart to trust are the cords of 
 love, and the cords of love are especially the love of 
 him to us whom we love ; and therefore the most pre- 
 vailing reasons that carry the whole heart, are such as 
 are drawn from the sweetness of God, whereby the 
 heart is opened and enlarged to expect all good, and 
 nothing but good from him. 
 
 But we must remember that neither reasons from 
 the truth and power of God, nor inducements or al- 
 lurements from the goodness of God, will further 
 prevail with the soul, than it hath a fresh light and 
 relish brought into it by the spirit of God, to dis- 
 cern of those reasons, and answer the contrary. 
 
 [/ will praise him.] David here minds praising 
 
246 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 of God more than his own dehvery, because he knew 
 his own dehvery was intended on God's part, that he 
 might be glorified. It is an argument of an excel- 
 lent spirit, when all self-respects are drowned in the 
 glory of God : and there is nothing lost therein ; for 
 our best being is in God. A christian begins with 
 loving God for himself; but he ends in loving himself 
 in and for God : and so his end, and God's end, and 
 the end of all things else concentre and agree in one. 
 We may aim at our own good, so we bring our hearts 
 to refer it to the chief good, as a less circle may well 
 be contained in a greater, so that the lines drawn 
 from both circles, meet in one middle point. It is an 
 excellent ground of sincerity to desire the favour of 
 God, not so much out of self-aims, as that God may 
 have the more free and full praise from us, consi- 
 dering the soul is never more fit for that blessed duty, 
 than when it is in a cheerful plight. 
 
 It rejoiced David more that he should have a large 
 heart to serve God, than that he should have en- 
 largement of condition. Holy dispositions think not 
 so much of the time to come, that it will be sweet to 
 them, as that it will further God's praise. True grace 
 raiseth the soul above self-respects, and resteth not 
 till it comes to the chief end wherein its happiness 
 consists. 
 
 God is glorified in making us happy, and we (en- 
 joying happiness) must glorify God. Although God 
 condescend so low unto us, as not only to allow us, 
 but to enjoin us to look to our own freedom from 
 misery, and enjoyment of happiness, yet a soul 
 thoroughly seasoned with grace, mounteth higher, 
 and is carried with pure respects to advance God's 
 glory; yea sometimes so far as to forget its own hap- 
 
THE soul's conflict. 247 
 
 piness, it respects itself for God, rather than God for 
 itself. A heavenly soul is never satisfied, until it be 
 as near God as is attainable. And the nearer a crea- 
 ture comes to God, the more it is emptied of itself, 
 and all self-aims. Our happiness is more in him, 
 than in ourselves. We seek ourselves most when we 
 deny ourselves most. And the more w^e labour to 
 advance God, the more we advance our own condi- 
 tion in him. 
 
 [/ will praise.] David thinks of his own duty in 
 praising God, more than of God's work in delivering 
 him : let us think of what is our duty, and God will 
 think of what shall be for our comfort; we shall feel 
 God answering what we look for from him, in doing 
 what he expects from us. Can we have so mean 
 thoughts of him, as that we should intend his glory, 
 and he not much more intend our good ? 
 
 This should be a strong plea unto us in our prayers, 
 to prevail with God, when we engage ourselves upon 
 the revelation of his mercy to us, to yield him all the 
 praises. Lord, as the benefit and comfort shall be 
 mine, so the praises shall be thine. 
 
 It is little less than blasphemy to praise God for 
 that which by unlawful shifts we have procured ; for 
 besides the hypocrisy of it, in seeming to sacrifice 
 to him, when we sacrifice indeed to our own wits and 
 carnal helps, we make him a patron of those ways 
 which he most abhors ; and it is idolatry in the high- 
 est degree, to transform God so in our thoughts, as to 
 think he is pleased with that which comes from his 
 greatest enemy, and there is a gross mistake to take 
 God's curse for a blessing ; to thrive in an ill way, 
 is a spiritual judgment, extremely hardening in the 
 heart. 
 
248 THE soul's COXFLICT. 
 
 It is an argument of David's sincerity here, that 
 he meant not to take any indirect course for delivering 
 himself, because he intended to praise God, which as 
 no guihy conscience can offer, being afraid to look 
 God in the face, so God would abhor such a sacri- 
 fice, were it offered to him. St. Paul was stirred up 
 to praise God, but withal he was assured God would 
 preserve him from every evil work, 2 Tim. iv. 18. 
 
 Sometimes indeed where there is no malicious in- 
 tention God pardons some breakings out of flesh and 
 blood, endeavouring to help ourselves in danger, so 
 far as not to take advantage of them to desert us in 
 trouble, as in David, who escaped from Achish by coun- 
 terfeiting, 1 Sa7n, xxvii. 30; and this yields a double 
 ground of thankfulness, partly for God's over-looking 
 our miscarriage, and partly for the deliverance itself. 
 Yet this indulgence of God, will make the soul more 
 ashamed afterward, for these sinful shifts, therefore it 
 must be no precedent to us. There can neither be 
 grace nor wisdom in setting upon a course, wherein 
 we can neither pray to God for success in, nor bless 
 God when he gives it. In this case God most bless- 
 eth where he most crosseth, and most curseth where 
 the deluded heart thinks he blesseth most. 
 
 CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 In our worst condition we have cause to 'praise God, 
 Still ample cause in these days, 
 
 I SHALL yet praise him. Or, yet / will praise 
 God; that is, however it goeth with me, yet as 
 I have cause, so I have a spirit to praise God ; when 
 w^e are at the lowest, yet it is a mercy that we are not 
 consumed ; we are never so ill, but it might be worse 
 
THE soul's conflict. 24§ 
 
 with us ; whatsoever is less than hell, is undeserved. 
 It is a matter of praise, that yet we have time and 
 opportunity to get into a blessed condition. The Lord 
 hath afflicted me sore, but he hath not delivered me 
 to death, saith David, Psalm xviii. 18. 
 
 In the worst times there is a presence of God with 
 his children. 
 
 1. In moderating the measure of the cross, that it 
 be not above their strength. 
 
 2. In moderating the time of it, The rod of the 
 wicked shall not rest long upon the lot*of the right- 
 eous, Psalm cxxv. 3. God limits both measure and 
 time. 
 
 3. He is present in mixing some comfort, and so 
 allaying the bitterness of a cross. 
 
 4. Yea, and he supports the soul by inward 
 strength; so as though it faint, yet it shall not ut- 
 terly fail. 
 
 5. God is present in sanctifying a cross for good, 
 and at length, when he hath perfected his own work 
 in his, he is present for a final deliverance of them. 
 A sound hearted christian hath always a God to go 
 to, a promise to go to, former experience to go to, 
 besides some present experiences of God's goodness 
 which he enjoys ; for the present he is a child of 
 God, a member of Christ, an heir of heaven ; he 
 dwells in the love of God in the cross, as well as out 
 of it, he may be cast out of his happy condition in 
 the world, but never out of God's favour. 
 
 If God's children have cause to praise God in their 
 worst condition, what difference is there betwixt 
 their best estate and their worst ? 
 
 Howsoever God's children have continual occasion 
 to praise God, yet there be some more especial seasons 
 
250 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 of praising God than others, there be days of God's 
 own 7naking, of purpose to rejoice in, wherein we may 
 say, This is the day which the Lord hath made, let 
 us rejoice therein, Psalm xviii. 24. And this I think is 
 chiefly intended here. David comforts himself with 
 this, that however it was now with him, yet God would 
 deal so graciously with him hereafter, that he should 
 have cause to bless his name. 
 
 Though in evil times we have cause to praise God, 
 yet so we are, and such are our spirits, for the most 
 part, that affliction straitens our hearts. Therefore 
 the apostle thought it the fittest duty in affliction to 
 pray. 75 any afflicted? let him pray , saith James ; 
 Is any joyful ? let him sing Psalms, James v. 13 ; 
 showing that the day of rejoicing is the fittest day of 
 praising God. Every work of a christian is beau- 
 tiful in its own time, the graces of Christianity have 
 their several offices at several seasons ; in trouble, 
 prayer is in its season ; in the evil day call upon me, 
 saith God ; in better times praises should appear and 
 show themselves. When God manifests his good- 
 ness to his, he gives them grace with it, to manifest 
 their thankfulness to him. Praising of God is then 
 most comely, though never out of season, when God 
 seems to call for it, by renewing the sense of his 
 mercies in some fresh favour towards us. If a bird 
 will sing in winter, much more in the spring ; if 
 the heart be prepared in the winter time of adver- 
 sity to praise God, how ready will it be when it is 
 warmed with the glorious sunshine of his favour ? 
 
 Our life is nothing but as it were a web woven with 
 interminglings of wants and favours, crosses and 
 blessings, standings and fallings, combat and victory, 
 therefore there should be a perpetual intercourse of 
 
THE soul's conflict. 251 
 
 praying and praising in our hearts. There is always 
 a ground of communion with God in one of these 
 kinds, till we come to that condition wherein all 
 wants shall be supplied, where indeed is only matter 
 of praise. Yet praising God in this life hath this pre- 
 rogative, that here we praise him in the midst of his 
 enemies. In heaven all will be in concert with us. 
 God esteems it an honour in the midst of devils, and 
 wicked men, whose life is nothing but a dishonour 
 of him, to have those that will make his name as it 
 is in itself so, great in the world. 
 
 David comforts himself in this, that he should 
 praise God ; which shows he had inured himself well 
 before to this holy exercise, in which he found such 
 comfort, that he could not but joy in the forethoughts 
 of that time, wherein he should have fresh occasion 
 of his former acquaintance with God. Thoughts of 
 this nature enter not into a heart that is strange to 
 God. 
 
 It is a special art in tinie of misery, to think of 
 matter of joy, if not for the present, yet for the time 
 to come ; for joy disposeth to praise, and praise again 
 stirs up joy ; these mutually breed one another, even 
 as the seed brings forth the tree, and the tree brings 
 forth the seed. It is wisdom therefore to set faith on 
 work, to take as much comfort as we can, from future 
 promises, that we may have comfort and strength for 
 the present, before we have the full possession of 
 them. It is the nature of faith to antedate blessings, 
 by making them that are to be performed hereafter, 
 as present now, because we have them in the pro- 
 mise. If God had not allowed us to take many 
 things in trust for the time to come, both for his 
 glory and our good, he would never have left such 
 
252 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 rich promises to us. For faith doth not only give 
 glory to God, for the present (in a present believing 
 of his truth, and relying upon him) but as it looks 
 forward, it sees an everlasting ground of praising 
 God, and is stirred up to praise him now, for that 
 future matter of praise, which it is sure to have here- 
 after. The very hopes of future good, made David 
 praise God for the present. If the happy condition 
 we look for were present, we would embrace it with 
 present praises. Now faith is the evidence of things 
 not seen, Heb. xi. 1 ; and gives a being to that which 
 is not ; whereupon a true believing soul cannot but 
 be a praising soul. For this end God reveals before- 
 hand what we shall have, that before-hand we should 
 praise him, as if we possessed it. For that is a great 
 honour to his truth, when we esteem of what he 
 speaks, as done, and what he promiseth, as already 
 performed. Had we not a perpetual confidence in 
 the perpetuity of his love to us, how is it possible we 
 should praise him ? 
 
 But we want those grounds for the time to come 
 which David had, he had particular promises which 
 we want. 
 
 Though we want urim and thummim, and the pro- 
 phets to foretel us what the times to come shall be, 
 yet we have the canon of scripture enlarged, we live 
 under a more glorious manifestation of Christ, and 
 under a more plentiful shedding of the Spirit, whereby 
 that want is abundantly supplied ; we have general 
 promises for the time to come, that God will never fail 
 nor forsake us, Deut. xxxi. 6 ; that he will be with us 
 in fire and in water, that he will give an issue to the 
 temptation, and that the issue of all things shall 
 be for our good, that we shall reap the quiet fruit 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 253 
 
 of righteousness, Heb. xii. 11; and no good thing 
 will he withhold from them that lead a godly life^ 
 &c. Psalm Ixxxiv. 11. If we had a spirit of faith to 
 apply these generals, we should see much of God's 
 goodness in particular. 
 
 Besides general promises we have some particular 
 ones for the time to come ; of the confusion of Anti- 
 christ, of the conversion of the Jews, and fulness of 
 the Gentiles, &c., which though we perhaps shall 
 never live to see, yet we are members of that body, 
 which hereafter shall see the same, which should stir 
 up our hearts to praise God, as if we did enjoy the 
 present fulfilling of them ourselves, for faith can pre- 
 sent them to the soul, as if they were now present. 
 
 Some that have a more near communion with God, 
 may have a particular faith of some particular de- 
 liverances, whereupon they may ground particular 
 prayer. '' Luther praying for a sick friend, who 
 was very comfortable, and useful to him, had a 
 particular answer for his recovery, whereupon he 
 was so confident, that he sent word to his friend, 
 that he should certainly recover. Latimer prayed 
 with great zeal for three things. 1. That Queen 
 Elizabeth might come to the crown. 2. That he 
 mio:ht seal the truth with his heart's blood. 3. And 
 that the gospel might be restored onee again, once 
 again, which he expressed with great vehemency of 
 spirit, all which three, God heard him in. But the 
 privileges of a few must not be made a general rule 
 for all. Privileges go not out of the persons, but 
 rest there. Yet if men would maintain a nearer 
 communion with God, there is no doubt but he 
 would reveal himself in more famihar manner to them, 
 in many particulars than usually he doth. Those par- 
 
1254 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 ticular promises in Psalm xci. and other places, are 
 made good to such as have a particular faith, and to 
 all others, with those limitations annexed to promises 
 of that nature, so far forth as God seeth it will induce 
 to their good and his own glory, and so far forth as 
 they depend upon him in the use of means ; and is 
 not this sufficient to stay a gracious heart ? 
 
 But not to insist upon particular promises and re- 
 velations (the performance whereof we enjoy here in 
 this present life) we have rich and precious promises 
 of final and full deliverance from all evil, and perfect 
 enjoying of all good in that life which is to come ; 
 yet not so to come, but that we have the earnest and 
 first fruits of it here ; all is not kept for heaven ; we 
 may say with David, Oh how great is thy goodness, 
 which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, 
 Psalm xxxi. 19 ; and (not only so, but) how great is 
 that goodness which thou hast wrought in them that 
 trust in thee, even before the sons of men ! God trea- 
 sures not up all his goodness for the time to come, but 
 lays much of it out daily before such as have eyes to 
 behold it. 
 
 Now God's main end in revealing such glorious 
 promises of the life to come is, that they might be 
 a ground of comfort to us, and of praise to him even 
 in this hfe ; and indeed what can be grievous in this 
 world to him that hath heaven in his eye? What 
 made our blessed Saviour endure the cross, and des- 
 pise shame, Heb. xii. 2 ; but the joy of glory to come 
 set before him ? 
 
 The duty that David brought his heart to before 
 he had a full enjoyment of what he looked for, was 
 patient waiting, it being God's use to put a long date 
 oftentimes to the performances of his promises ; Da- 
 
.THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 255 
 
 vid after he had the promise of a kingdom, was put 
 off a long time ere he was invested to it ; Abraham 
 was an old man before he enjoyed his son of the pro- 
 mise ; Joseph stayed a long time before he was ex- 
 alted ; our blessed Saviour himself was thirty-four 
 years old before he was exalted up into glory. 
 
 God defers, but his deferring is no empty space, 
 wherein no good is done, but there is in that space a 
 fitting for promises. Whilst the seed lieth hid in the 
 earth, time is not lost, for winter fits for spring, yea, 
 the harder the winter, the more hopeful the spring ; 
 yet were it a mere empty space, we should hold out, 
 because of the great things to come ; but being only 
 a preparing time, we should pass it with the less dis- 
 couragement. Let this support us in all the thwart- 
 ings of our desire ; it is a folly to think, that we should 
 have physic and health both at once ; we must en- 
 dure the working of God's physic ; when the sick 
 humour is carried away and purged, then we shall 
 enjoy desired health. God promiseth forgiveness of 
 sin, but thou findest the burthen of it daily on thee. 
 Cheer up thyself, when the morning is darkest, then 
 comes day ; after a weary week comes a sabbath, 
 and after a fight victory will appear. God's time is 
 best, therefore resolve upon waiting his leisure. For 
 the better demeaning of ourselves herein, we must 
 know we must so wait, that we provoke not in the 
 mean time his patience on whom we depend, by put- 
 ting forth our hand to any evil, which indeed is a 
 crossing of our hopes. Therefore waiting upon God 
 is always joined with doing good. There is an influ- 
 ence in the thing hoped for, in the spirit of him that 
 truly hopes, stirring him up to a suitable conformity, 
 by purging himself of whatsoever will not stand with 
 
256 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 the holiness of that condition. Waiting implies all 
 graces, as patience, perseverance, long-suffering in 
 holding out, notwithstanding the tediousness of time 
 deferred ; courage, and breaking through all diffi- 
 culties that stand between. For what is waiting in- 
 deed, but a continuing in a gracious inoffensive course, 
 till the accomplishment of our desires ! 
 
 Whence we may discern a main difference betwixt 
 a christian and a carnal man, who is short- spirited, 
 and all for the present ; he will have his good here, 
 whereas a saint of God continues still waiting, though 
 all things seem contrary to what he expects. The 
 presence of things to come is such to faith, as it makes 
 it despise the pleasure of sin for a season. What 
 evidence of goodness is it for a man to be good only 
 upon the apprehension of something that contents 
 him ? Here is the glory of faith, that it can upon 
 God's bare promise, cross itself in things pleasing to 
 nature, and raise up the soul to a disposition some 
 ways answerable to that blessed estate which, though 
 yet it enjoys not, yet it is undoubtedly persuaded of, 
 and looks for. What can encourage us more to 
 wait, than this, that the good we wait for is greater 
 than we are able to conceive, yea, greater than we 
 can desire or hope for ? 
 
 This was no presumptuous resolution of David's 
 own strength, but it issued from his present truth of 
 heart, so far as he knew the same ; together with an 
 humble dependence upon God, both for deliverance, 
 and a heart to praise him for it ; because God's be- 
 nefits are usually entire, and are sweetened with such 
 a sense of his love, as causeth a thankful heart, which 
 to a true christian, is a greater blessing than the 
 deliverance itself, as making the soul better. David 
 
THE soul's conflict. 257 
 
 doth acknowledge with humble admiration, that a 
 heart enlarged comes from God, Who am /, saithhe, 
 and who are my people ? 
 
 He mentioneth here praising God, instead of 
 deliverance , because a heart enlarged to praise God 
 is indeed the greatest part of the deliverance ; for by 
 it the soul is delivered out of its own straits and dis- 
 content. 
 
 CHAP, xxviir. 
 
 Divers qualities of the Praise due to God, With 
 helps therein. And Notes of God*s hearing our 
 Prayers, 
 
 THOUGH this be God's due and our duty, and 
 itself a delightful thing, yet it is not so easy a 
 matter to praise God, as many imagine : music is 
 sweet, but the setting of the strings in tune is un- 
 pleasing; our souls will not belong in tune, and it is 
 harsh to us to go about the setting them in order ; 
 like curious clocks, a little thing will hinder the mo- 
 tion ; especially passion, which disturbs not only the 
 frame of grace in us, but the very frame of nature, 
 putting man out of the power and possession of him- 
 self ; and therefore David here, when he had thoughts 
 of praising God, was fain to take up the quarrel be- 
 twixt him and his soul first; praising sets all the 
 parts and graces of the soul awork ; and therefore 
 the soul had need gather itself and its strength toge- 
 ther to this duty. 
 
 It requires especially self-denial, from a conscience 
 of our own wants, weaknesses, and unworthiness ; it 
 requires a giving up of ourselves, and all ours to be 
 at God's dispose ; the very ground and the fruit 
 
258 THE SOUL S COKFLICT. 
 
 which it yields are both God's ; and they never gave 
 themselves truly up to God, that are not ready to 
 give all they have to him whensoever he calls for it ; 
 thankfulness is a sacrifice, and in sacrifices there 
 must be killing before offering, otherwise the sacrifice 
 will be as the offering up some unclean creature; 
 thanksgiving is an incense, and there must be fire to 
 burn that incense ; thanksgiving requires not only 
 affections, but the heat of affections ; there must be 
 some assurance of the benefit we praise God for ; and 
 it is no easy matter tomaintainassuranceof our inte- 
 rest in the best things. 
 
 Yet in this case if we feel not sense of assurance, 
 it is good we should praise God for what we have ; 
 we cannot deny but God offers himself in mercy to 
 us, and that he intends our good thereby, for so we 
 ought to construe his merciful dealing towards us, 
 and not have him in jealousy without ground ; if we 
 bring our hearts to be willing to praise God, for that 
 we cannot but acknowledge comes from him, he will 
 be ready in his time to show himself more clearly to 
 us ; we taste of his goodness many ways, and it is 
 accompanied with much patience, and these in their 
 natures lead us not only to repentance, but likewise 
 to thankful acknowledgment ; and we ought to fol- 
 low that which God leads us unto, though he hath 
 not yet acquainted us with his secrets. 
 
 It is good in this case to help the soul with a firm 
 resolution, and to back resolution with a vow not 
 only in general that we will praise, but particularly 
 of something within our own power, provided it prove 
 no snare to us. For by this means the heart is per- 
 fectly gained, and the thing is as good as done in 
 regard of God's acceptance and our comfort; because 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 259 
 
 Strong resolutions discover sincerity without any 
 hypocritical reservation and hollo w^ness. Always so 
 much sincerity as a man hath, so much will his in- 
 ward peace be. Resolution as a strong stream bears 
 down all before it ; little good is done in religion 
 without this, and with it all is as good as done. 
 
 So soon as we set upon this work, we shall feel 
 our spirits to rise higher and higher as the waters 
 in the sanctuary, as the soul grows more and more 
 heated ; see how David riseth by degrees. Be glad 
 in the Lord, and then, rejoice, ye righteous, and then, 
 shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart, the 
 Spirit of God will delight to carry us along in this 
 duty, until it leaves our spirits in heaven, praising 
 God with the saints and glorious angels there; To 
 him that hath and useth it shall be given ; he that 
 knoweth God aright, will honour him by trusting of 
 him ; he that honours him by trusting him, will honour 
 him by praying ; and he that honours him by prayer, 
 shall honour him by praises ; he that honours him by 
 praises here, shall perfect his praises in heaven ; and 
 this will quit the labour of setting and keeping the 
 soul in tune ; this trading with God is the richest 
 trade in the world ; when we return praises to him, 
 he returns new favours to us, and so an everlasting 
 ever-increasing intercourse betwixt God and the soul 
 is maintained ; David here resolved to praise God, 
 because he had assurance of such a deliverance as 
 would yield him a ground of praising him. 
 
 Praising of God may well be called incense, be- 
 cause as it is sweet in itself, and sweet to God, so it 
 sweetens all that comes from us. Love and joy are 
 sweet in themselves, though those whom we love and 
 joy in, should not know of our affection, nor return 
 
260 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 the like ; but we cannot love and joy in God but he 
 will delight in us ; when we neglect the praising of 
 God, we lose both the comfort of God's love, and our 
 own too ; it is a spiritual judgment to want or lose 
 the sight or sense of God's favours, for it is a sign of 
 want of spiritual life, or at least liveliness ; it shows 
 we are not yet in the state of those whom God hath 
 chosen, to set forth the riches of his glory upon. 
 
 When we consider that if we answer not kindness 
 and favour showed unto us by men, we are esteemed 
 unworthy of respect, as having sinned against the 
 bond of human society and love, we cannot but much 
 more take shame to ourselves, when we consider the 
 disproportion of our carriage, and unkind behaviour 
 towards God ; when instead of being temples of his 
 praise, we become graves of his benefits ; what a va- 
 nity is this in our nature, to stand upon exactness of 
 justice, in answering petty courtesies of men, and yet 
 to pass by the substantial favours of God, without 
 scarce taking notice of them ? the best breeding is to 
 acknowledge greatest respects where they are most 
 due, and to think, that if unkindness and rudeness 
 be a sin in civihty, it is much more in religion ; the 
 greatest danger of unthankfulness is in the greatest 
 matter of all ; if we arrogate any spiritual strength to 
 ourselves in spiritual actions, we commit either sacri- 
 lege in robbing God of his due, or mockery, by prais- 
 ing him for that which we hold to be of ourselves; if 
 injustice be to be condemned in man, much more in 
 denying God his due, religion being the first due. It 
 takes much from thankfulness, when we have com- 
 mon conceits of pecuhar favours ; praise is not comely 
 in the mouth of fools, God loves no blind sacrifice. 
 
 We should therefore have wisdom and judgment, 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT; 261 
 
 not only to know upon what grounds to be thankful, 
 but in what order, by discerning what be the best and 
 first favours whence the rest proceed, and which add 
 a worthiness to all the rest ; it is good to see bless- 
 ings, as they issue from grace and mercy. It much 
 commends any blessing, to see the love and favour of 
 God in it, which is more to be valued than the bless- 
 ing itself, as it much commends any thing that comes 
 from us, when we put a respect of thankfulness, and 
 love to God upon it ; and if we observe, we shall find 
 the unkindness of others to us is but a correction of 
 our unkindness to God. 
 
 In praising God, it is not good to delay, but take ad- 
 vantage of the freshness of the blessing ; what we add 
 to delay, we take from thankfulness ; and withal, los^ 
 the prime and first-fruits of our affections : it is a 
 wise redeeming of time, to observe the best seasons 
 of thankfulness ; a cheerful heart will best close with 
 a cheerful duty ; and therefore it is not good to waste 
 so fit a temper in frivolous things, but after some con- 
 tentment given to nature, let God have the fruit of 
 his own planting, otherwise it is even no better than 
 the refreshing of him that standeth by a good fire, 
 and crieth, Ah, ah, I am warm. 
 
 David doth not say, I will thank God, but / shall 
 praise him ; though he intends that. Thanks is then 
 best when it tends to praising, and there ends ; for 
 thanks alone show respect to our own good only, 
 praises, to God's glory; and in particular to the glory 
 of such excellencies whence the benefit comes ; and 
 from thence the soul is enlarged to think highly of 
 all God's excellencies. 
 
 Hanna upon particular thanks for hearing her about 
 a child, takes occasion to set out God's other excel- 
 
262 *rHE soul's conflict. 
 
 lencies, and riseth higher and higher, from one to 
 many, from the present time to that which was to 
 come, from particular favours to herself, she stirs up 
 others to praise God foy his mercy to them; so 
 David, Deliver me, God, and my tongue shall 
 sing of thy praises ; he propounds this as an en- 
 gagement to the Lord to help him, because it should 
 tend to the enlargement of his glory ; he was resolved 
 to improve God's favour this way. 
 
 The Spirit of God works like new wine, enlarging 
 the spirit from one degree of praising God to another ; 
 and because it foresees the eternity of God's love, as 
 far as it can, it endeavours an eternity of God's 
 praise ; a gracious heart upon taste of favour showed 
 to itself, is presently warmed to spread the praise of 
 God to others, and the more it sees the fruit of 
 trusting God, and his truth in performing promise, 
 the more it still honours that trusting, as knowing 
 that it Hes upon God's honour, to honour those that 
 honour him ; blessing will procure blessing ; the soul 
 hath never such freedom from sin, as when it is in a 
 thankful frame ; for thankfulness issues from a heart 
 truly humbled and emptied of itself, truly loving and 
 rejoicing in God ; and upon any sin the spirit is 
 grieved and straitened, and the lips sealed up in 
 such a heart ; for the conscience upon any sin looks 
 upon it not only as disobedience against God's will 
 and authority, but as unthankfulness to his goodness, 
 and this melteth a godly heart most of all : when 
 Nathan told David God had done this, and this for 
 him, and was ready to do more, he could not hold in 
 the confession of his sin, but relented and gave in 
 presently. 
 
 We ought not only to give thanks, but to be thank- 
 
THE soul's conflict. 263 
 
 fill, to meditate and study the praises of God. Our 
 whole life should be nothing else but a continual 
 blessing of his holy name, endeavouring to bring in 
 all we have, and to lay it out for God and his people, 
 to see where he hath any receivers : our goodness is 
 nothing to God ; we need bring no water to the foun- 
 tain, nor Hght to the sun. Thankfulness is full of 
 invention, it deviseth liberal things, though it be our 
 duty to be good stewards of our talents, yet thank- 
 fulness adds a lustre, and a more gracious acceptance, 
 as having more of that which God calls for. 
 ' Our praising God should not be as sparks out of 
 a flint, but as water out of a spring, natural, ready, 
 free, as God's love to us is ; mercy pleases him, so 
 should praise please us ; it is our happiness when the 
 best part in us is exercised about the best and highest 
 work ; it was a good speech of him that said, If God 
 had made me a nightingale, I would have sung as a 
 nightingale, but now God hath made me a man, I 
 will sing forth the praises of God, which is the work 
 of a saint only : all thy works bless thee, and thy 
 saints praise thee : all things are either blessings in 
 their nature, or so blessed, as they are made blessings 
 to us by the overruling coming of him, who maketh 
 all things serviceable to his, even the worst things in 
 this sense are made spiritual to God's people against 
 their own nature ; how gr eat is that goodness which 
 makes even the worst thin gs good ? 
 
 Little favours come from no small love, but even 
 from the same love that God intends the greatest 
 things to us, and are pledges of it; the godly are 
 more thankful for the least favours than worldly men 
 for the greatest : the affection of the giver enhances 
 the gift. 
 
264 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 O then let us labour to improve both what we have, 
 and what we are to his glory : it discovers that we 
 love God, not only with all our understanding, heart, 
 and affections, but, when with all our might and 
 power, so far as we have advantage by any part, 
 relation, or calling whatsoever, we endeavour to do 
 him service, we cannot have a greater honour in the 
 world, than to be honoured of God, to be abundant 
 in this kind. 
 
 Our time here is short, and we shall all ere long be 
 called to a reckoning, therefore let us study real 
 praises. God's blessing of us is in deed, and so 
 should ours be of him. Thanks in words is good, 
 but in deeds is better ; leaves are good, but fruit is 
 better ; and of fruit, that which costs us most. True 
 praise requires our whole man, the judgment to es- 
 teem, the memory to treasure up, the will to resolve, 
 the affections to delight, the tongue to speak of, and 
 the life to express the rich favours of God : what can 
 we think of? what can we call to mind ? What can 
 we resolve upon ? what can we speak ? What can we 
 express in our whole course better than the praises 
 of him, of whom, and through whoin, and to whom 
 we and all things are ? 
 
 Our whole hfe should speak nothing but thankful- 
 ness ; every condition and place we are in should be 
 a witness of our thankfulness ; this will make the 
 times and places we live in the better for us ; when 
 we ourselves are monuments of God's mercy, it is fit 
 we should be patterns of his praises, and leave monu- 
 ments to others : we should think life is given us, to 
 do something better than life in ; we live not to live ; 
 our life is not the end of itself, but the praise of the 
 giver : God hath joined his glory and our happiness 
 
THE SOUL^S CONFLICT. ^ ^85*^^^^ 
 
 r/^^...«,^^ .... ^^ ^ C< Tnp 
 together ; it is fit that we should refer all that is good - w A * 
 to his glory, that hath joined his glof^ to our best 
 good, in being glorified in our salvation. 
 
 David concludes, that he should certainly praise 
 God, because he had prayed unto him. Prayers be 
 the seeds of praises : I have sown, therefore I will 
 reap ; what we receive as a fruit of our prayers, is 
 more sweet than what we have by a general pro- 
 vidence. 
 
 But how do we know that God hears our prayers ? 
 
 1. If we regard them ourselves, and expect an 
 issue ; prayer is a sure adventure, we may well look 
 for a return. 
 
 2. It is a sign that God hath heard our prayers, 
 when he stirs up thankfulness aforehand upon as- 
 surance ; thankfulness cannot be without either the 
 grace of God, by which we are thankful, or some 
 taste of the things we are thankful for. God often 
 accepts the prayer, when he doth not grant the thing, 
 and will give us thereby occasion of thanksgiving for 
 his wise care, in changing one blessing for another 
 fitter for us. God regards my prayers, when by 
 prayer my heart is wrought to that frame which he 
 requires, that is, an humble subjection to him, from 
 an acknowledgment of my wants, and his fulness. 
 There is nothing stirred up in our hearts by the Spirit, 
 no, not so much as a gracious desire, but God will 
 answer it, if we have a spirit to wait. 
 
 3. We may know God hath accepted our prayer, 
 when he makes the way easy and plain after prayer 
 by a gracious providence, when the course of things 
 begin to change, and we meet with comforts instead 
 of former crosses, and find our hearts quieted and 
 encouraged against what we most feared. 
 
 ■^ 
 
266 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 4. Likewise earnestness in prayer is a sign God 
 hears our prayers, as fire kindled from heaven showeth 
 God accepts the sacrifice ; the ground of prevaiUng 
 by our prayer, is, that they are put up in a gracious 
 name, and for persons in favour, and dictated by 
 God's own Spirit ; they work in the strength of the 
 blessed Trinity, not their own, giving God the glory 
 of all his excellencies. 
 
 It is God's direction to call upon him in trouble j 
 and it is his promise to deliver ; and then both his 
 direction and promise that we shall glorify him : 
 when troubles stir up prayer, God's answer to them 
 will stir up praises. David when he saith, / shall 
 praise God, presupposes God would deliver him, 
 that he might have ground of praising his name. 
 And he knew God would deliver him, because as 
 from faith he had prayed for deliverance, so he knew 
 it was the order of God's dealing, to revive after 
 drooping, and refresh after fainting. God knows 
 otherwise that our spirits would fail before him. 
 
 A thankful disposition is a special help in an af- 
 flicted condition, for thankfulness springs from love, 
 and love rejoiceth in suffering. Thankfulness raises 
 the soul higher than itself, it is trading with God, 
 whereby as we by him, so he gains by us. There- 
 fore the saints used this as a motive to God, that he 
 would grant their desires, because the living praise 
 him, and not the dead. If God expect praise from 
 us, sure he will put us into a condition of praise. 
 
 Unthankfulness is a sin detestable both to God 
 and men, and the less punishment it receives from 
 human laws, the more it is punished inwardly by se- 
 cret shame, and outwardly by public hatred, if once 
 it prove notorious. When God's arrests come forth 
 
THE SOUL^S CONFLICT. 267 
 
 for denying him his tribute, he chiefly eyes an un- 
 thankful heart, and hates all sin the worse, as there 
 is more unthankfulness in it : the neglect of .kindness 
 is taken most unkindly. Why should we load God 
 with injuries, that loadeth us with his blessings ? who 
 would requite good with evil ? Such men*s mercies 
 will prove at last so many indictments against them. 
 
 I beseech you therefore labour to be men of praises. 
 If in any duty we may expect assistance, we may in 
 this, that altogether concerns God's glory; the more 
 we praise God, the more we shall praise him. When 
 God by grace enlarges the will, he intends to give 
 the deed. God*s children wherein their wills are 
 conformable to God's will, are sure to have them ful- 
 filled. In a fruitful ground, a man will sow his best 
 seed. God intends his own glor^ in every mercy, 
 and he that praises him, glorijies him. When our 
 w^ills therefore carry us to that which God wills above 
 all, we may well expect he will satisfy our desires. 
 The living God is a Hving fountain never drawn dry, 
 he hath never done so much for us, but he can and 
 will do more. If there be no end of our praises, there 
 shall be no end of his goodness, no way of thriving 
 like to this. By this means we are sure never to be 
 very miserable ; how can he be dejected, that by a 
 sweet communion with God sets himself in heaven ? 
 nay, maketh his heart a kind of heaven, a temple, 
 a holy of holies, wherein incense is offered unto 
 God ? It is the sweetest branch of our priestly office, 
 to offer up these daily sacrifices ; it is not only the be- 
 ginning, but a further entrance of our heaven upon 
 earth, and shall be one day our whole employment 
 for ever. 
 
 Praise is a just and due tribute for all God's bles- 
 
268 THE SOUL*S CONFLICT. 
 
 sings; for what else especially do the best favours 
 of God call for at our hands ? How do all creatures 
 praise God, but by our mouths ? It is a debt always 
 owing, and always paying ; and the more we pay, 
 the more we shall owe ; upon the due discharge of 
 this debt, the soul will find much peace. A thankful 
 heart to God for his blessings, is the greatest blessing 
 of all. Were it not for a few gracious souls, what 
 honour should God have of the rest of the unthank- 
 ful world ? which should stir us up the more to be 
 trumpets of God's praises in the midst of his enemies, 
 because this, in some sort, hath a prerogative above 
 our praising God in heaven ; for their God hath no 
 enemies to dishonour him. 
 
 This is a duty that none can except against, be- 
 cause it is especially a work of the heart. All can- 
 not show their thankfulness in giving, or doing great 
 matters, but all may express the willingness of their 
 hearts. All within us may praise his holy name, 
 Psalm ciii ; though we have little or nothing without 
 us; and that within us is the thing God chiefly requires. 
 Our heart is the altar on which we offer this incense ; 
 God looks not to quantity, but to proportion ; he ac- 
 cepts a mite where there is no more to be had. 
 
 But how shall we be enabled to this great duty ? 
 
 Enter into a deep consideration of God's favours, 
 past, present, and to come ; think of the greatness 
 and suitableness of them to our condition, the season- 
 ableness and necessity of them every way unto us. 
 Consider how miserable our life were without them, 
 even without common favours ; but as for spiritual 
 favours, that make both our natural and civil condi- 
 tion comfortable, our very life were death, our light 
 were darkness without these. In all favours think 
 
THE soul's conflict. 269 
 
 not of them so much, as God's mercy and love in 
 Christ, which sweetens them. Think of the freeness 
 of this love, and the smallness of thy own deserts. 
 How many blessings doth God bestow upon us, 
 above our deserts, yea, above our desires, nay, above 
 our very thoughts ? He had thoughts of love to us 
 when we had no thoughts ourselves. What had 
 we been if God had not been good unto us ? How 
 many blessings hath God bestowed upon us, that we 
 never prayed for? and yet we are not so ready to 
 praise God, as to pray unto him ; this more desire 
 of what we want than esteeming of what we have, 
 shows too much prevailing of self-love. But, 
 
 Secondly, comparing also ourselves with others, 
 will add a great lustre to God's favour, considering 
 we are all hewed out of one rock, and differ nothing 
 from the meanest, but in God's free love. Who are 
 we that God should single us out for the glory of his 
 rich mercy. 
 
 Considering, hkewise, that the blessings of God 
 to us are such as if none but we had them, and 
 God cares for us, as if he had none else to care for 
 in the world besides. These things well pondered, 
 should set the greater price upon God's blessings; 
 what are we in nature and grace but God's blessings ; 
 what is in us, about us, above us ? What see we, taste 
 we, enjoy we, but blessings : all we have or hope to 
 have, are but dead favours to us, unless we put life 
 into them by a spirit of thankfulness. And shall we 
 be as dead as the earth, as the stones we tread on ? 
 Shall we live as if we were resolved God should have 
 no praise by us? Shall we make ourselves God, 
 ascribing all to ourselves ? Nay, shall we, as many 
 do, fight against God with his own favours, and turn 
 
270 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 God's blessings against himself? Shall we abuse 
 peace to security ? Plenty to ease, promises to pre- 
 sumption, gifts to pride? How can we please the 
 devil better than thus doing ? Oh ! the wonderful 
 patience of God, to continue life to those whose life 
 is nothing else but a warring against him the giver pf 
 life. 
 
 As God hath thoughts of love to us, so should our 
 thoughts be of praises to him, and of doing good in 
 our places to others for his sake. Think with thyself, 
 is there any I may honour God by relieving, comfort- 
 ing, counselling ? Is there any of Jonathan's race ? 
 2 Sam, ix. 1. Is there any of Christ's dear ones? I 
 will do good to them, that they together with me, 
 and for me, may praise God, Psalm cxviii. 1. As 
 David here checks himself for the failing and dis- 
 quietness of his spirit, and as a cure thereof, thinks 
 of praising God : so let us, in the like case, stir up 
 our souls as he did, and say. Praise the Lord^ O my 
 soul, and all that is within me, set forth his holy 
 name, Psalm ciii. 1 . We never use our spirits to better 
 purpose, than when by that light we have from God, 
 we stir them up to look back again to him. 
 
 By this it will appear to what good purposes we 
 had a being here in the world, and were brought into 
 communion with Christ by the gospel. The carriage 
 of all things to the right end, shows whose we are, 
 and whither we tend. It abundantly appears by 
 God's revealing of himself many ways to us, as by 
 promises, sacraments, sabbaths, &c. that he intended 
 to raise up our hearts to this heavenly duty. The 
 whole gracious dispensation of God in Christ tends 
 to this, that our carriage should be nothing else, but 
 an expression of thankfulness to him ; that by a free, 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 271 
 
 cheerful, and gracious disposition, we might show 
 we are the people of God's free grace, set at liberty 
 from the spirit of bondage, to serve him without fear, 
 Luke i. 74, with a voluntary childlike service, all 
 the days of our lives* 
 
 CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 Of God's manifold Salvation for his People j and 
 why open, or expressed in the countenance, 
 
 I PROCEED. 
 He is the salvation of my countenance. 
 
 As David strengthens his trust in God, by reason 
 fetched from the future goodness of God, apprehended 
 by faith ; so he strengthens that reason with another 
 reason fetched from God, whom he apprehends here 
 as the salvation of his countenance. We need rea- 
 son against reason, and reason upon reason, to steel 
 and strengthen the soul against the onset of contrary 
 reasons. 
 
 He is the salvation of my countenance : that is, 
 he will so save as I shall see, and my enemies shall 
 see it ; and upon seeing, my countenance shall be 
 cheered and hfted up ; God's saving kindness shall 
 be read in my countenance, so that all who look on 
 me, shall say, God hath spoken peace to my soul, as 
 well as brought peace to my condition. 
 
 He saith not salvation, but salvations ; because as 
 our life is subject to many miseries, in soul, body, 
 and state, public and private, &c. so God hath many 
 salvations : if we have a thousand troubles, he hath 
 a thousand ways of help ; as he hath more blessings 
 than one, so he hath more salvations than one. He 
 
272 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 saves our souls from sin, our bodies from danger, and 
 our estates from trouble. He is the Redeemer of his 
 people ; and not only so, but with him is plenteous 
 redemption of all persons, of all parts both of body 
 and soul, from all ill, both of sin and misery, for all 
 times, both now and hereafter. He is an everlasting 
 salvation. 
 
 David doth not say, God will save me ; but God is 
 salvation itself, and nothing but salvation. Our sins 
 only stop the current of his mercy, but it being above 
 all our sins, will soon scatter that cloud, remove that 
 stop, and then we shall see and feel nothing but sal- 
 vation from the Lord, All his ways are mercy and 
 peace to a repentant soul that casts itself upon him. 
 
 Christ himself is nothing else but salvation clothed 
 in our flesh. So old Simeon conceived of him, when 
 he had him in his arms, and was willing thereupon to 
 yield up his spirit to God, having seen Christ, the sal- 
 vation of God : when we embrace Christ in the arms 
 of our faith, we embrace nothing but salvation. He 
 makes up that sweet name given him by his Father, 
 and brought from heaven by an angel to the full, 
 Luke ii. 14 : a name in the faith of which, it is im-^ 
 possible for any believing soul to sink. 
 
 The devil in trouble presents God to us as a re- 
 venging destroyer, and unbehef presents him under a 
 false vizard ; but the skill of faith is, to present him 
 as a Saviour clothed with salvation. We should not 
 so much look what destruction the devil and his 
 threaten, as what salvation God promiseth, Psalm 
 Ixviii. 20. To God belong the issues of death ; and 
 of all other troubles, which are lesser deaths. Cannot 
 he that hath vouchsafed an issue in Christ from eter- 
 nal death, vouchsafe an issue from all temporal evils ? 
 
THE soul's conflict. 273 
 
 If he will raise our bodies, cannot he raise our con- 
 ditions ? He that brought us into trouble can easily 
 make a way out of it when he pleaseth. This should 
 be a ground of resolute and absolute obedience, even 
 in our greatest extremities, considering God will 
 either deliver us (from death, or by death, and) at 
 length out of death. 
 
 So then, when we are in any danger, we see whi- 
 ther to go for salvation, even to him that is nothing 
 else but salvation ; but then we must trust in him, as 
 David doth, and conceive of him as salvation, that 
 we may trust in him. If we will not trust in salva- 
 tion, what will we trust in ? and if salvation itself 
 cannot save us, what can ? out of salvation there is 
 nothing but destruction, which those that seek it any 
 where out of God, are sure to meet with. How piti- 
 ful then is their case, who go to a destroyer for sal- 
 vation ? that seek for help from hell ? 
 
 Here also we see to whom to return praise in all 
 our deliverances, even to the God of our salvation. 
 The virgin Mary was stirred up to magnify the Lord, 
 but why ? Her spirit rejoiced in God her Saviour, 
 Luke i. Whosoever is the instrument of any good, 
 yet salvation is of the Lord ; whatsoever brings it, he 
 sends it. Hence in their holy feasts for any deliver- 
 ance, the cup they drank of was called the cup of 
 salvation : and therefore David when he summons 
 his thoughts, what to render unto God ; he resolves 
 upon this, to take the cup of salvation. But always 
 remember this, that when we think of God as salva- 
 tion, we must think of him as he in Christ to his. 
 For, so every thing in God is saving, even his most 
 terrible attributes of justice and power : out of Christ, 
 the sweetest things in God are terrible. Salvation 
 
 T 
 
274 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 itself will not save out of Christ, who is the only way 
 of salvation, called the way, the truth, and the life. 
 
 David addeth, He is the salvation of my counter 
 nance ; that is, he will first speak salvation to my 
 soul, and say, / am thy salvation ; and when the 
 heart is cheered, which is as it were the sun of this 
 little world, the beams of that joy will shine in the 
 countenance. True joy begins at the centre, and so 
 passcth to the circumference the outward man. The 
 countenance is as the glass of the soul, wherein you 
 may see the naked face of the soul, according as the 
 several affections thereof stand. In the countenance 
 of an understanding creature, you may see more than 
 a bare countenance. The spirit of one man may see 
 the countenance of another's inner man in his outward 
 countenance ; which hath a speech of its own, and 
 declares what the heart saith, and how it is affected. 
 
 But how comes God to be the salvation of our 
 countenance ? 
 
 I answer : God only graciously shines in the face 
 of Jesus Christ, which we with the eye of faith be- 
 holding, receive those beams of his grace, and reflect 
 them back again ; God shineth upon us first, and we 
 shine in that light of his countenance upon us. The 
 joy of salvation, especially of spiritual and eternal 
 salvation, is the only true joy: all other salvations 
 end at last in destruction, and are no further com- 
 fortable than they issue from God's saving love. 
 
 God will have the body partake with the soul ; as 
 in matter of grief, so in matter of joy, the lantern 
 shines in the hght of the candle within. 
 
 Again, God brings forth the joy of the heart into 
 the countenance , for the further spreadiiig and mul- 
 tiplying of joy to others. 
 
 Next unto the sight of .the sweet countenance of 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 275 
 
 God, is the beholding of the cheerful countenance 
 of a christian friend, rejoicing from true grounds. 
 Whence it is that the joy of one becomes the joy of 
 many, and the joys of many meet in one ; by which 
 means, as many lights together make the greater 
 light, so many lightsome spirits make the greater 
 light of spirit : and God receiveth the more praise, 
 which makes him so much to delight in the prosperity 
 of his children. Hence it is, that in any deliverance 
 of God*s people, the righteous do compass them about ^ 
 Psalm cxlii. 7, to know what God hath done for 
 their souls ; and keep a spiritual feast with them in 
 partaking of their joy. And the godly have cause 
 to joy in the deliverance of other christians, because 
 they suffered in their afflictions, and it may be in 
 their sins the cause of them, which made them some- 
 what ashamed. Whence it is, that David's great 
 desire was, that those who feared God might not be 
 ashamed because of him, Psalm Ixix. 6 : insinuating 
 that those who fear God's name are ashamed of the 
 falls of God's people. Now when God delivers them, 
 this reproach is removed, and those that had part in 
 their sorrow have part in their joy. 
 
 Again, God will have salvation so open, that it 
 shall appear in the countenance of his people, the 
 more to daunt and vex the enemies. Cainish hypo- 
 crites hang down their heads, when God lifts up the 
 countenance of their brethren ; when the countenance 
 of God's children clears up, then their enemies' hearts 
 and looks are cloudy. Jerusalem's joy is Babylon's 
 sorrovj. It is with the Church and her enemies as it 
 is with a balance, the scales whereof when one is up 
 the other is down. Whilst God's people are under 
 a cloud, carnal people insult over them, as if they 
 were men deserted of God Whereupon they hang 
 
27& THE SOUL S CONFLICT, 
 
 down their heads, and the rather, because they think 
 that by reason of their sins, Christ and his rehgion 
 will suffer with them. Hence David's care was, that 
 the miseries of God's people should not he told in 
 Gath, 2 Sam, i. 20. The chief reason why the ene- 
 mies of the Church gnash their teeth at the sight of 
 God's gracious dealing, is, that they take the rising 
 of the Church to be a presage of their ruin. A les- 
 son which Haman's wife had learned, Esther vi. 13. 
 This is a comfort to us in these times of Jacob's 
 trouble and Zion's sorrow • the captivity of the Church 
 shall return, as rivers in the south, Psalm exxvi. 1. 
 Therefore the church may say, Rejoice not over mcy 
 O my enemy, though I am fallen, I shall rise again ^ 
 Mic. vii. 8. Though Christ's spouse be now as black 
 as the pots, yet she shall be as white as the dove. If 
 there were not great dangers, where were the glory of 
 God's great deliverance ? The Church at length will 
 be as a cup of trembling, and as a burthensome 
 stone. Zee. xii. 2. The blood of the saints cry, their 
 enemies' violence cries, the prayers of the Church cry 
 for deliverance and vengeance upon the enemies of 
 the Church; and, as that importunate vjidow, Luke 
 xi. 5, will at length prevail. Shall the importunity of 
 one poor woman prevail with an unrighteous judge, 
 and shall not the prayers of many that cry unto the 
 righteous God take effect ? If there were armies of 
 prayers, as there are armies of men, we should see the 
 stream of things turned another way. A few Moses 
 in the mount would do more good than many sol- 
 diers in the valley. If we would hft up our hearts 
 and hands to God, he would lift up our countenance. 
 But alas, we either pray not, or cross our own prayers 
 for want of love to the truth of God and his people. 
 
THE soul's conflict. 277 
 
 It is we tliat keep Antichrist and his faction ahve, 
 to plague the unthankful world. The strength he 
 hath is not from his own cause, but from our want 
 of zeal ; we hinder those hallelujahs by private brab- 
 bles, coldness and indifFerency in religion. The Church 
 begins at this time a little to lift up her head again : 
 now is the time to follow God with prayers, that he 
 would perfect his own work, and plead his own cause ; 
 that he would be revenged not only of ours, but 
 his enemies : that he would wholly free his Church 
 from that miserable bondage. These beginnings give 
 our faith some hold to be encouraged to go to God 
 for the fulfilling of his gracious promise, that the 
 Church may rejoice in the salvation of the Lord. 
 God doth but look for some to seek unto him : Christ 
 doth but stay until he is awaked by our prayers. But 
 it is to be feared that God hath not yet perfected his 
 work in Zion. The Church is not fully prepared for 
 a full and glorious deliverance. If God had once his 
 ends in the humiliation of the Church for sins past, 
 with resolution of reformation for the time to come, 
 then this age perhaps might see the salvation of the 
 Lord, which the generations to come shall be witness 
 of: we should see Zion in her perfect beauty. The 
 generations of those that came out of Egypt saw and 
 enjoyed the pleasant land which their progenitors 
 were shut out of: who by reason of their murmuring 
 and looking back to Egypt, and forgetfulness of the 
 wonders which God had done for and before them, 
 perished in the wilderness. 
 
 There is little cause therefore of envying the pre- 
 sent flourishing of the enemies of the Church, and of 
 joining and colluding with them ; for it will prove 
 .the wisest resolution to resolve to fall and rise with 
 
 V 
 
278 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 the Church of Christ, considering the enemies them- 
 selves shall say, God hath done great things for 
 them : kings shall lay their crowns at Christ's feet, 
 and bring all their glory to the Church, Rev. xxi. 24. 
 
 And for every christian, this may be a comfort^ 
 that though their light for a time may be eclipsed, 
 yet it shall break forth. David at this time was ac- 
 counted an enemy of the state, and had a world of 
 false imputations laid upon him, which he was very 
 sensible of; yet, we see here, he knew at length God 
 would be the salvation of his countenance. 
 
 But some, as Gideon, may object, if God intend 
 to be so gracious, why is it thus with us ? 
 
 The answer is, salvation is God's own work^ hum- 
 bling and casting down is his strange work,, whereby 
 he comes to his own work. For, when he intends to 
 save, he will seem to destroy first : and when he will 
 justify, he will condemn first : whom he will revive, 
 he will kill first. Grace and goodness countenanced 
 by God, have a native inbred majesty in them, which 
 maketh the face to shine, and borroweth not its 
 lustre from without, which God at length will have 
 to appear in its own likeness, howsoever mahce may 
 cast a veil thereon, and disguise it for a time : and 
 though wickedness, as it is base born, and a child of 
 darkness, may shelter itself under authority awhile, 
 yet it shall hide itself and run into corners. The com- 
 fort of comforts is, that at that great day, the day of 
 all days, that day of the revelation of the righteous 
 judgment of God, Dan. xii.; the righteous shall then 
 shine as the sun in the firmament, then Christ will 
 come to be glorious in his saints, and will be the sal- 
 vation of the countenance of all his. Then all the 
 works of darkness shall be driven out of countenance. 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 279 
 
 and adjudged to the place from whence they came. 
 
 In the mean time let us, with David, support ourselves ./' 
 
 with the hopes of these times. 
 
 CHAP. XXX. 
 
 Of God, our God, and of particular Application, 
 'Y GOD. 
 
 M 
 
 These words imply a special interest that the 
 holy man had in God, as his God, being the ground 
 of all which was said before; both of the duty of 
 trusting, and of praising, and of the salvation that he 
 expected from God. He is my God, therefore be 
 not disquieted, but trust him. He is my God, there- 
 fore he will give me matter to praise him, and will be 
 the salvation of my countenance; God hath some 
 special ones in the world, to whom he doth as it were 
 pass over himself, and whose God he is by virtue of 
 a more special covenant ; whence we have these ex- 
 cellent expressions, / will be your God, and you 
 shall he my people, Jer. xxxi. 33 ; / will be your 
 Father^ and you shall be my sons and daughters^ 
 2 Cor. vi. 18. Since the fall we having lost our com- 
 munion with God the chief good, our happiness 
 stands in recovering again fellowship with him. For 
 this end we were created, and for this redeemed, and 
 for effecting of this, the word and sacraments are 
 sanctified to us, yea, and for this end God himself, 
 out of the bowels of his compassion, vouchsafed to 
 enter into a gracious covenant with us, founded upon 
 Jesus Christ, and his satisfaction to divine justice; 
 so that by faith we become one with him, and re- 
 ceive him as offered of his Father to be all in all 
 to us. 
 
280 THE soul's COTiTFLICT. 
 
 Hence it is, that Christ hath his name Emanuely 
 God with MS, Not only because he is God and man 
 too, both natures meeting in one person, but be- 
 cause being God in our nature, he hath undertook 
 this office to bring God and us together. The main 
 end of Christ's coming and suffering was to reconcile, 
 and to gather together in one; and, as Peter ex- 
 presseth it, to bring man again to God, 1 Pet. iii. 18. 
 Emanuel is the bond of this happy agreement, and 
 appears for ever in heaven to make it good. As the 
 comfort hereof is great, so the foundation of it is sure 
 and everlasting. God will be our God, so long as 
 he is Christ's God ; and because he is Christ's God^ 
 John XX. 10. Thus the father of the faithful, and all 
 other holy men before Christ, apprehended God to 
 be their God in the Messias to come. Christ was 
 the ground of their interest. He was yesterday to 
 them as well as to-day to us, Heb. xiii. Hence it 
 is that God is called the portion, Psalm Ixxiii. 26, of his 
 people, and they his jewels, Mai. iii. 25; he is their 
 only rock and strong tower, Psalm Ixxi., and they his 
 pecuhar ones. 
 
 Well may we wonder that the great God should 
 stoop so low, to enter into such a covenant of grace 
 and peace, founded upon such a mediator, with such 
 utter enemies, base creatures, sinful dust and ashes 
 as we are. This is the wonderment of angels, a tor- 
 ment of devils, and glory of our nature and persons ; 
 and will be matter of admiration, and praising God 
 unto us for all eternity. 
 
 As God ofFereth himself to be ours in Christ, (else 
 durst we lay no claim to him) so there must be in us 
 an appropriating grace of faith, to lay hold of this 
 offer. David saith here, My God. But by what 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 281 
 
 Spirit? by a spirit of faith, which looking to God's 
 offer, maketh it his own whatsoever it lays hold of. 
 God ofFereth himself in covenant, and faith catcheth 
 hold thereon presently. With a gracious offer of 
 God, there goeth a gracious touch of his spirit to the 
 soul, giving it sight and strength, whereby, being 
 aided by the same spirit, it layeth hold on God 
 showing himself in love. God saith to the soul, / am 
 thy salvation, and the soul saith again. Thou art my 
 God. Faith is nothing else but a spiritual echo, 
 returning that voice hack again, which God first 
 speaks to the soul. For what acquaintance could 
 the soul claim with so glorious a majesty, if he should 
 not first condescend so low, as to speak peace, and 
 whisper secretly to the soul, that he is our loving 
 God and Father, and we his pecuhar ones in Christ, 
 that our sins are all pardoned, his justice fully satis- 
 fied, and our persons freely accepted in his dear Son ? 
 
 But to come more particularly to the words, My 
 God. The words are pregnant; in the womb of 
 them, all that is graciously and comfortably good is 
 contained ; they are the spring-head of all particular 
 blessings. All particular relations and titles that it 
 pleaseth God to take upon him, have their strength 
 from hence, that God is our God. More cannot be 
 said, and less will not serve the turn. Whatsoever 
 else we have, if we have not God, it will prove but 
 an empty cistern at last ; he is our proper element, 
 every thing desires to live in its own element, fishes 
 in the sea, birds in the air : in this they are best 
 preserved. 
 
 There is a greater strength in this My God than in 
 any other title, it is more than if he had said, My 
 King, or My Lord', these are words of sovereignty 
 
282 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 and wisdom ; but this implies not only infinite power, 
 sovereignty, and wisdom, but likewise infinite bounty 
 and provident care ; so that when we are said to be 
 God's people, the meaning is, that we are not only 
 such over whom God hath a power and command, 
 but such as toward whom he shows a loving and 
 peculiar respect. 
 
 In the words is implied, 1. A propriety and interest 
 in God. 2. An improvement of the same for the 
 quieting of the soul. 
 
 David here lays a particular claim, by a particular 
 faith unto God. The reason is, 1. The virtue of 
 faith is as to lay hold, so to appropriate to itself, and 
 make its own whatever it lays hold on, and it doth 
 no more in this, than God gives it leave by his gra- 
 cious promises to do. 
 
 2. As God offers, so faith receives, but God offers 
 himself in particular to the believing soul by his spirit, 
 therefore our faith must be particular. That which 
 the sacraments seal, is a peculiar interest in Christ. 
 This is that which hath always upheld the saints of 
 God, and that which is ever joined with the hfe of 
 Christ in us. The life that I live, saith Paul, is by 
 the faith of the son of God, who loved me, and gave 
 himself for me, Gal. ii. 20. The spirit of faith is a 
 spirit of application. 
 
 This is imphed in all the articles of our faith ; we 
 believe God to be our father, and Christ to be born 
 for us, that he died for us, and rose again for our 
 good, and now sits at the right hand of God making 
 requests for us in particular. 
 
 3. This is that which distinguisheth the faith of a 
 true christian from all hypocrites and cast-aways 
 whatsoever. Were it not for this word of possession 
 
THE soul's conflict. 283 
 
 (mine) the devil might say the Creed to as good 
 purpose as we; he believes there is a God, and a 
 Christ : but that which torments him is this, he can 
 say (my) to never an article of faith. 
 
 4. A general apprehension of God's goodness and 
 mercy may stand with desperation. Take away my 
 from God, and take away God himself in regard of 
 comfort ; what comfort was it for Adam, when he was 
 shut out of Paradise, to look upon it after he had 
 lost it ? The more excellencies are in God, the more 
 our grief if we have not our part in them : the very 
 hfe-blood of the gospel lies in a special application 
 of particular mercy to ourselves. All relations that 
 God and Christ have taken upon them, imply a ne- 
 cessity of application ; what if God be a rock of sal- 
 vation, if we do not rest upon him ? What if he be 
 a foundation, and we do not build on him ? What if 
 he offers himself as a husband, if we will not accept 
 of him, what avails it us ? How can we rejoice in 
 the salvation of our souls, unless we can in parti- 
 cular say, / rejoice in God my Saviour, 
 
 5. Without particular application, we can neither 
 entertain the love of God, nor return love again, by 
 which means we lose all the comfort God intends us 
 in his w^ord, which of purpose was written for our 
 solace and refreshment ; take away particular faith, 
 and we let out all the spirits of cheerful and thank- 
 ful obedience. 
 
 This possessive particle (my) hath place in all the 
 golden chain of our salvation. The first spring of all 
 God's claim to us as his is in his election of us ; we 
 were by grace his before we were ; those that are 
 his from that eternal love, he gives to Christ ; this is 
 hid in the breast of God, till he calls us out of the rest 
 
284 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 of the world into communion with Christ. In an- 
 swering of which call, by faith, we become one with 
 Christ, and so one with him. Afterwards in justifi- 
 cation we feel God experimentally to be reconciled 
 unto us, whence arises joy and inward peace. And 
 then upon further sanctification God delights in us 
 as his, bearing his own image, and we from a likeness 
 to God delight in him as ours in his Christ, and so 
 this mutual interest betwixt God and us continues 
 until at last God becomes all in all unto us. 
 
 But how can a man that is not yet in the state of 
 grace say with any comfort, My God ? 
 
 Whilst a man regards iniquity in his heart with- 
 out any remorse or dislike of the same, if he saith My 
 God, his heart will give his tongue the lie, however 
 in an outward profession and opinion of others, he 
 may bear himself as if God were his, upon false 
 grounds. For there can be no more in a conclusion, 
 than it hath from the principle and premises out of 
 which it is drawn. The principle here is, that God 
 is the God of all that trust in him. Now if we can 
 make it good, that we truly trust in God, we may 
 safely conclude of comfort from him ; for the more 
 certain clearing of which, try yourselves by the signs 
 of trust delivered. 
 
 It is no easy matter to say in truth of heart, My 
 God, the flesh will still labour for supremacy, God 
 should be all in all unto us, but this will not be till 
 these bodies of flesh, together with the body of sin, 
 be laid aside. He that says, God is my God, and 
 doth not yield up himself unto God, raiseth a build- 
 ing without a foundation, layeth a claim without 
 a title, and claimeth a title without an evidence, 
 reckoning upon a bargain, without consent of the 
 party with whom he would contract. 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 285 
 
 "But if a man shall out of the sight and sense of sin, 
 thirst after mercy in Christ, and call upon God for 
 pardon, then God, who is a God hearing prayer^ 
 Psalm Ixv. 2, and delighteth to be known by the name 
 of merciful, will be ready to close and meet with the 
 desire of such a soul, so far as to give it leave to rely 
 upon him for mercy, and that without presumption, 
 until he further discovers himself graciously unto it ; 
 upon sense of which grace the soul may be encouraged 
 to lay a further claim unto God, having further ac- 
 quaintance with him. Hence are those exhortations so 
 oft in the Prophets, to turn unto the Lord our God, 
 Zac. i. 3, because upon our first resolution to turn 
 unto God, we shall find him always ready to answer 
 those desires, that he stirs up by his own Spirit in us. 
 We are not therefore to stay our turning unto God, 
 till we feel him saying to our hearts, / am thy God ; 
 but when he prevents us by his grace, enabling us to 
 desire grace, let us follow the work begun in the 
 strength of what grace we have, and then God will^ 
 further manifest himself in mercy to us. 
 
 Yet God, before we can make any thing towards 
 him, letteth into our hearts some few beams of mercy, 
 thereby drawing us unto him, and reaching us out a 
 hint to lay hold upon. 
 
 And as sin causeth a distance betwixt God and us, 
 so the guilt of sin in the conscience, causeth further 
 strangeness, insomuch that we dare not look up to 
 heaven, till God open a little crevice to let in a little 
 hght of comfort at least into our souls, whereby we 
 are by httle and httle drawn nearer to him. But this 
 light at the first is so little, that in regard of the greater 
 sense of sin, and a larger desire of grace, the soul 
 reckons the same as no light at all, in comparison of 
 
286 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 what it desires and seeks after. Yet the comfort is, 
 that this dawning hght will at length clear up to a 
 perfect day. 
 
 Thus we see how this claim of God to be our God, 
 is still in growth until full assurance, and that there 
 is a great distance betwixt the first act of faith in 
 cleaving to God, offering himself in Christ to be ours, 
 and between the last fruit of faith the clear and com- 
 fortable feeling, that God is our God indeed. We 
 first by faith apply ourselves to God, and then apply 
 God to us, to be ours ; the first is the conflicting exer- 
 cise of faith, the last is the triumph of faith ; there- 
 fore faith properly is not assurance. And to comfort 
 us the more, the promises are specially made to the 
 act of faith, fuller assurance is the reward of faith. 
 
 If God hath not chosen me in Christ to he his, 
 what ground have I to trust in him ? I may cast 
 away myself upon a vain confidence. 
 
 We have no ground at first to trouble ourselves 
 about God's election. Secret things belong to God ; 
 God's revealed will is, that all that believe in Christ 
 shall not perish, John iii. 15. It is my duty there- 
 fore, knowing this, to believe, by doing whereof, I put 
 that question (whether God be mine or no ?) out of all 
 question : for all that believe in Christ are Christ's, 
 and all that are Christ's are God's. It is not my duty 
 to look to God's secret counsel, but to his open offer, 
 invitation, and command, and thereupon to adventure 
 my soul. And this adventure of faith will bring at 
 length a rich return unto us. In war men will adven- 
 ture their lives, because they think some will escape, 
 and why not they ? In traffic beyond the seas many 
 adventure great estates, because some grow rich by a 
 good return, though many miscarry. The husband- 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 287 
 
 man adventures his seed, though sometime the year 
 proves so bad, that he never sees it more : and shall not 
 we make a spiritual adventure in casting ourselves 
 upon God, when we have so good a warrant as his 
 command, and so good an encouragement as his pro- 
 mise, that he will not fail those that rely on him ? God 
 bids us draw near to him, and he will draw near to 
 us. Whilst we in God's own ways draw near to him, 
 and labour to entertain good thoughts of him, he will 
 delight to show himself favourable unto us. Whilst 
 we are striving against an unbelieving heart, he will 
 come in and help us, and so fresh hght will come in. 
 Pretend not thy unworthiness and inability, to keep 
 thee off from God, for this is the way to keep thee 
 so still ; if any thing help us, it must be God ; and 
 if ever he help us, it must be by casting ourselves 
 upon him : for then he will reach out himself unto 
 us in the promise of mercy to pardon our sin, and in 
 the promise of grace to sanctify our natures. It was 
 a good resolution of the lepers, If we enter into the 
 city, the famine is there, and we shall c?ie, say they ; 
 if we sit still, we shall die also : let us therefore 
 fall into the host of Assyrians, if they save us, we 
 shall live ; if they kill us, we shall but die. So we 
 should reason : if we sit still under the load of our 
 sin, we shall die ; if we put ourselves into the hands 
 of Christ, if he save us, we shall Hve ; if he save us 
 not, we shall but die. Nay, surely he will not suf- 
 fer us to die. Did ever Christ thrust any back from 
 him, that put themselves upon him ? unless it were 
 by that means to draw them the nearer unto him, 
 as we see in the woman of Canaan, His denial was 
 but to increase her importunity. We should there- 
 fore do as she did, gather all arguments to help our 
 
288 THE SOUL S CONFLICT, 
 
 faith. Suppose I am a dog, saitli she, yet I am one 
 of the family, and therefore have right to the crums 
 that fall. So, Lord, I have been a sinner, yet I am 
 thy creature ; and not only so, but such a creature 
 as thou hast set over the rest of the works of thy 
 hands ; and not only so, but one whom thou hast 
 admitted into thy Church by baptism, whereby thou 
 wouldst bind me to give myself unto thee beforehand ; 
 and more than this, thou hast brought me under the 
 means, and therein hast showed thy will concerning 
 my turning towards thee. Thou hast not only offered 
 me conditions of peace, but wooed me by thy minis- 
 ters to give up myself unto thee, as thine in thy Christ. 
 Therefore I dare not suspect thy good meaning to- 
 wards me, or question thy intendment, but resolve to 
 take thy counsel, and put myself upon thy mercy. 
 I cannot think, if thou hadst meant to cast me away, 
 and not to own me for thine, thou wouldst ever have 
 kindled these desires in me. But it is not this state 
 I rest in, my purpose is to wait upon thee, until thou 
 dost manifest thyself farther unto me. It is not com- 
 mon favours that will content me, though I be un- 
 worthy of these, because I hear of choice blessings 
 towards thy chosen people, that thou enterest into 
 a peculiar covenant withal, sure mercies, Isa. Iv. 3 ; 
 and such as accompany salvation. These be the fa- 
 vours I wait for at thy hand. visit me with the 
 salvation of thy chosen, Psalm cvi. 4, 5. O remem- 
 ber me with the favour of thy people, that I may see 
 the good of thy chosen. Whilst the soul is thus exer- 
 cised, more sweetness falls upon the will and affec- 
 tions, whereby they are drawn still nearer unto God. 
 The soul is in a getting and thriving condition ; for 
 God dehghts to show himself gracious to those that 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 289 
 
 strive to be well persuaded of him, concerning his 
 readiness to show mercy to all that look towards him 
 in Christ. In worldly things, how do we cherish 
 hopes upon little grounds ? if there shineth never so 
 little hope of gain or preferment, we make after it : 
 why then should we forsake our own mercy, which 
 God offers to be our own, if we will embrace it, hav- 
 ing such certain grounds for our hope to rest on ? 
 
 It was the pohcy of the servants of Benhadad to 
 watch if any word of comfort fell from the King of 
 Israel, and when he named Benhadad his brother, 
 they catched presently at that, and cheered them- 
 selves. Faith hath a catching quality at whatsoever 
 is near to lay hold on. Like the branches of the vine, 
 it windeth about that which is next, and stays itself 
 upon it, spreading further and further still. If nature 
 taught Benhadad's servants to lay hold upon any 
 word of comfort that fell from the mouth of a cruel 
 king, shall not grace teach God's children to lie in 
 wait for a token that he will show for good to them ? 
 How should we stretch forth the arms o^ om: faith 
 to him, that stretcheth out his arms ail the day 
 long to a rebellious people ? Isa. Ixv. 2. God will 
 never shut his bosom against those, that in an humble 
 obedience fly unto him : we cannot conceive too 
 graciously of God. Can we have a fairer offer, than 
 for God in Christ to make over himself unto us? 
 which is more than if he should make over a thou- 
 sand worlds ; therefore our chief care should be first 
 by faith to make this good, and then to make it use- 
 ful unto us, by living upon it as our chiefest portion, 
 which we shall do ; i. By proving God to be our God 
 in particular ; 2. By improving of it in all the pas- 
 sages of our lives. 
 
 u 
 
290 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 Means of proving and evidencing to our souls that 
 God is our God, 
 
 NOW we prove it to our souls, that God is ours, 
 when we take him at his offer, when we bring 
 nothing but a sense of our own emptiness with us, 
 and a good conceit of his faithfulness and ability to 
 do us good, when we answer God in the particular 
 pass'ages of salvation, which we cannot do, till he be- 
 gins unto us. Therefore if we be God's, it is a certain 
 sign that God is ours. If we choose him, we may 
 conclude he hath chosen us first. If we love him, 
 we may know that he hath loved us Jirst, 1 John iv. 
 19. If we apprehend him , it is because he hath appre- 
 hended us first. Whatsoever affection we show to 
 God, it is a reflection of his first to us. If cold and 
 dark bodies have light and heat in them, it is because 
 the sun hath shined upon them first. Mary answers 
 not Rabboni till Christ said Mary to her. If we say 
 to God, I am thine, it is because he hath first said 
 unto us, Thou art mine ; after which, the voice of the 
 faithful soul is, / am my beloved's^ and my beloved is 
 mine. We may know God's mind to us in heaven, 
 by the return of our hearts upwards again to him : 
 only as the reflected beams are weaker than the direct, 
 so our aflections in their return to God, are far weaker 
 than his love falling upon us. God will be to us 
 whatsoever we make him by our faith to be ; when 
 by grace we answer his condition of trusting, then he 
 becomes ours to use for our good. 
 
 2. We may know God to be our God when we 
 pitch and plant all our happiness in him, when the 
 
THE soul's conflict. 291 
 
 desires of our souls are towards him, and we place all 
 our contentment in him. As this word {mij) is a term 
 of appropriation springing from a special faith, so it 
 is a word of love and peculiar affection, showing that 
 the soul doth repose and rest itself quietly and securely 
 upon God. Thus David proves God to be his God, 
 by early seeking of him, by thirsting, and longing 
 after his presence, and that upon good reason, be- 
 cause God's loving kindness was better to him than 
 life ; this he knew would satisfy his soul as with mar- 
 row and fatness. So St. Paul proved Christ to be his 
 Lord, by accounting all else as dung and dross in 
 comparison of him. 
 
 Then we make God our God, and set a crown of 
 majesty upon his head, when we set up a throne for 
 him in our hearts, where self-love before had set up 
 the creature above him ; when the heart is so unloosed 
 from the world, that it is ready to part with any thing 
 for God's sake, giving him now the supremacy in our 
 hearts, and bringing down every high thought, in cap- 
 tivity to him ; making him our trust, our love, our 
 joy, our delight, our fear, our all ; and whatsoever we 
 esteem or affect else, to esteem and affect it under 
 him, in him, and for him; when we cleave to him 
 above all, depending upon him as our chief good, 
 and contenting ourselves in him, as all-sufficient to 
 give our souls fit and full satisfaction. When we re- 
 sign up ourselves to his gracious government, to do 
 and suffer what he will, offering ourselves and all our 
 spiritual services as sacrifices to him ; when faith 
 brings God into the soul as ours, we not only love 
 him, but love him dearly, making it appear, that we 
 are at good terms with God, we are at a point for other 
 things. How many are there that will adventure the 
 
292 THE soul's CONFLICT. \ 
 
 loss of the love of God for a thing of nothing, and 
 redeem the favour of men v^ith the loss of God's ? cer- 
 tain it is whatsoever we esteem, or affect most, that 
 whatsoever it be in itself, yet we make it our god. 
 The best of us all may take shame to ourselves herein 
 in that we do not give God his due place in us, but 
 set up some idol or other in our hearts above him. 
 
 When the soul can without hypocrisy say. My God, 
 it engageth us to universal and unlimited obedience, 
 we shall be ambitious of doing that which may be ac- 
 ceptable and well pleasing to him ; and therefore this 
 is prefixed as a ground before the Commandments, 
 enforcing obedience 2 I am the Lord thy God, there- 
 fore thou shalt have no other Gods before me, Exod. 
 XX. whomsoever else we obey, it must be in the Lord, 
 because we see a beam of God's authority in them ; 
 and it is no prejudice to any inferior authority, to 
 prefer God's authority before it, in case of difference 
 one from the other. 
 
 When we know we are a peculiar people, we can- 
 not but be zealous of good works. If I be a Father, 
 where is mine honour ? special relations are special 
 enforcements to duty. 
 
 4. The Spirit of God, which knows the deep things 
 of God, and the depths of our hearts, doth reveal this 
 mutual interest betwixt God and those that are his, it 
 being a principal work of the spirit to seal this unto 
 the soul, by discovering such a clear and particular 
 light in the use of means, as swayeth the soul to yield 
 up itself wholly to God. When we truly trust, we 
 may say with St. Paul, / know whom I have trusted ; 
 he knew both that he trusted, and whom he trusted. 
 The Spirit of God that reveals God to be ours, and 
 stirs up faith in him, both reveals this trust to our 
 
THE SOUL'S CONFLICT. 293 
 
 souls, and the interest we have in God thereby. The 
 Lord is my portion, saith my soul : but God said so 
 to it first. If instinct of nature teaches dams to know 
 their young ones, and their young ones them, in the 
 midst of those that are ahke ; shall not the Spirit of 
 God much more teach the soul to know its own father ? 
 as none knows what is in man, but the spirit of man, 
 so none knows what love God bears to those that are 
 his, but the Spirit of God in his : all the light in the 
 world cannot discover the sun unto us, only it disco- 
 vers itself by its own beams. So all the angels and 
 saints in heaven cannot discover to our souls the 
 love that is in the breast of God towards us, but only 
 the Spirit of God, which sheds it into our hearts, 
 Rom. V. 5. The Spirit only teaches this language, 
 My God. It is infused only into sanctified hearts ; 
 and therefore ofttimes mean men enjoy it, when great, 
 wise, and learned persons are strangers to it. Matt. 
 xi. 25. 
 
 5. The Spirit when it witnesseth this to us is called 
 the Spirit of adoption, and hath always accompanying 
 of it a spirit of supphcation, whereby with a famihar, 
 yet reverend boldness, we lay open our hearts to God 
 as a dear father ; all others are strangers to this hea- 
 venly intercourse. In straits they run to their friends 
 and carnal shifts, whereas an heir of heaven runs to 
 his father, and tells him of all. 
 
 6. Those that are God's, are known to be his by 
 special love- tokens that he bestows upon them. As 
 1. The special graces of his Spirit. Princes* children 
 are known by their costly jewels, and rich ornaments. 
 It is not common gifts, and glorious parts that set a 
 character upon us to be God's, but grace to use those 
 gifts, in humility and love, to the glory of the giver. 
 
294 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 2. Tliere is in them a suitableness and cpnnatu- 
 ralness of heart to all that is spiritual, to whatsoever 
 hath God's stamp upon it, as his truth and his children, 
 and that because they are his. By this likeness of 
 disposition, we are fashioned to a communion with 
 him : can two walk together, and not be agreed ? it 
 is a certain evidence that we are God's in Christ, if 
 the Spirit of God hath wrought in us any impression 
 like unto Christ, who is the image of his Father : both 
 Christ looking upon us, and our looking upon Christ 
 by faith, as ours, hath a transforming and conforming 
 power. 
 
 3. Spiritual comforts in distress, such as the world 
 can neither give, nor take away, show that God looks 
 upon the souls of his with another eye, than he behold- 
 eth others. He sends a secret messenger that reports his 
 peculiar love to their hearts. He knows their souls, 
 and feeds them with his hidden manna ? the inward 
 peace they feel is not in freedom from trouble, but in 
 freeness with God in the midst of trouble. 
 
 4. Seasonable and sanctified corrections, whereby 
 we are kept from being led away by the error of the 
 wicked, show God's fatherly care over us as his. Who 
 will trouble himself in correcting another man's child ? 
 yet we oftener complain of the smart we feel, than 
 think of the tender heart and hand that smites us, 
 until our spirits be subdued, and then we reap the 
 quiet fruit of righteousness. Where crosses work to- 
 gether for the best, we may know that we love God^ 
 Rom. viii. 28, and are loved of him. Thriving in a 
 sinful course is a black mark of one that is not God's. 
 
 5. Then we make it appear that God is our God, 
 when we side with him, and are for him and his cause 
 in ill times^ When God seems to cry out unto us, 
 
I 
 
 THE soul's conflict. 295 
 
 'ho is on my side, who ? then if we can say as those 
 in Isaiah, whereof one says, I am the Lord's, and ano- 
 ther calls himself % the name of Jacob, and another 
 subscribes with his hand unto the Lord, it is a blessed 
 sign. Thus the patriarchs and prophets, apostles 
 and martyrs, were not ashamed of God, and God 
 was not ashamed to own them. Provided that this 
 boldness for God proceed not only from a conviction of 
 the judgment, but from spiritual experience of the 
 goodness of the cause, whereby we can justify in heart 
 what we justify in words. Otherwise men may con- 
 tend for that with others, which they have no interest 
 in themselves. The Hfe must witness for God as 
 well as the tongue : it is oft easier for corrupt nature 
 to part with life rather than with lust. 
 
 This siding with God, is with a separation from 
 whatsoever is contrary. God useth this as an argu- 
 ment to come out of Babylon, because we are his peo- 
 ple ; Come out of her, my people. Religion is nothing 
 else but a gathering and a binding of the soul close 
 to God : that fire which gathers together the gold, 
 separates the dross. Nature draws out that which is 
 wholesome in meats, and severs the contrary. The 
 good that is to be had by God, is by cleaving to him, 
 and him only. God loves an ingenuous and full pro- 
 testation, if called to it. It shows the coldness of the 
 times when there is not heat enough of zeal to sepa- 
 rate from a contrary faith. God is a jealous God, 
 and so we shall find him at last. When the day of 
 severing comes, then they that have stood for him, 
 shall not only be his, but his treasure, and his jewels. 
 Mai iii. 17. 
 
 There is none of us all but may some time or other 
 fall into such a great extremity, that when we look 
 
296 THE soul's COS^FLICT. 
 
 about us, we shall find none to help us : at which 
 time we shall throughly know, what it is to have com- 
 fort from heaven, and a God to go unto. If there 
 be any thing in the world worth labouring for, it is 
 the getting sound evidence to our souls that God is 
 ours. What madness is it to spend all our labour, 
 to possess ourselves of the cistern when the fountain is 
 offered to us? O beloved, the whole world cannot 
 weigh against this one comfort, that God is ours. All 
 things laid in the other balance, would be too light. 
 A moth may corrupt, a thief may take away that we 
 have here, but who can take our God away ? though 
 God doth convey some comfort to us by these things, 
 yet when they are gone, he reserves the comfort in 
 himself still, and can convey that, and more, in a 
 purer and sweeter way, where he plants the grace of 
 faith to fetch it from him. Why then should we 
 weaken our interest in God, for any thing this earth 
 affords? what unworthy wretches are those, that to 
 please a sinful man, or to feed a base lust, or to yield 
 to a wicked custom, will, as much as in them lieth, 
 lose their interest in God? such httle consider what 
 an excellent privilege it is to have a sure refuge to 
 fly unto in time of trouble. God wants not ways to 
 maintain his, without being beholden to the devil : 
 he hath all help hid in himself, and will then most 
 show it, when it shall make most for his own glory. 
 If God be ours, it is a shame to be beholden to the 
 devil, that ever it should be said, Satan by base 
 courses hath made us rich. God thinks any outward 
 thing too mean for his children, severed from himself, 
 therefore he gives his Son, the express image of him- 
 self, unto them. For which cause David, when he had 
 even studied to retkon up the number of God's choice 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 297 
 
 blessings, concludes with advancing of this above all, 
 yea rather happy are they whose God is the Lord. 
 If this will not satisfy the soul, what can ? Labour 
 therefore to bring thy soul to this point with God, 
 Lord, if thou seest it Jit, take away all from me, 
 so thou leavest me thyself: whom have I in heaven 
 but thee, and there is none on earth that I desire 
 in comparison of thee ? 
 
 CHAP. XXXII. 
 
 Of improving our Evidences for Comfort in several 
 passages of our Lives, 
 
 THAT we lose not any measure of comfort in this 
 so sweet a privilege, we must labour for skill to 
 improve, and implead the same in the several passages 
 and occasions of our lives, and let it appear in the retail, 
 that whatsoever, is in God is mine : if I am in a per- 
 plexed condition, his wisdom is mine : if m great dan- 
 ger, his power is mine ; if I lie sighing under the bur- 
 then of sin, his grace is mine : if in any want, his 
 all-sufficiency is mine. My God, saith St. Paul, will 
 supply all your wants. If in any danger, / am thine, 
 Lord, save me, I am thine, the price of thy Son's blood, 
 let me not be lost, thou hast given me the earnest of 
 thy Spirit, and set thy seal upon me for thy own, let 
 me neither lose my bargain, nor thou thine. What 
 is religion itself but a spiritual bond ? whereby the 
 soul is tied to God as its own, and then singles out 
 of God whatsoever is needful for any occasion : and 
 so binds God with his own covenant and promise. 
 Lord, thou hast made thyself to be mine, therefore 
 now show thyself so, and be exalted in thy wisdom, 
 goodness, andpower,for my defence. To walk com- 
 
298 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 fortahly in my Christian course, I need much grace, 
 supply me out of thy rich store, I need wisdom to 
 go in and out inoffensively before others, furnish me 
 with thy Spirit, I need patience and comfort, thou 
 that art the God of all consolation, bestow it on me. 
 
 In time of desertion put Christ betwixt God and 
 thy soul, and learn to appeal, from God out of Christ, 
 to God in Christ. Lord, look upon my Saviour, that 
 is near unto thee as thy son, near to me as my brother, 
 and now intercedes at thy right hand for me ; though 
 I have sinned, yet he hath suffered, and shed his pre- 
 cious blood to make my peace. When we are in any 
 trouble, let us still wait on him, and lie at his feet, 
 and never let him go till he casts a gracious look 
 upon us. 
 
 So if we be to deal with God, for the Church 
 abroad, we may allege unto him that whatsoever 
 provocations are therein, and deformity in regard of 
 abuses and scandals ; yet it is his Church, his people, 
 his inheritance, his name is called upon in it, and the 
 enemies of it are his enemies. God hath engaged 
 himself to the friends of the Church, that they shall 
 prosper that love it. Psalm cxxii. 6 ; and therefore 
 we may with a holy boldness press him for a blessing 
 upon the same. 
 
 So for our children and posterity, we may incline 
 God to respect them, because they are under his 
 covenant, who hath promised to be our God, and 
 the God of our seed, John xvii. ; thine they were, 
 thou gavest them me : all that I have is thine, these 
 are those children luhich thou of thy rich grace 
 hast given me. They are thine more than mine ; 
 I am but a means under thee to bring them into the 
 world, and to be a nurse unto thy children; take 
 
THE soul's conflict. 299 
 
 care therefore of thine own children, I beseech thee, 
 especially, when I can take no care of them myself ; 
 thou slumberest not, thou diest not, I must. 
 
 Flesh and blood think nothing is cared for, but 
 what it seeth cared for by itself. It hath no eyes to 
 see a guard of providence, a guard of angels. It 
 takes no knowledge that that is best cared for, that 
 God cares for. Those that have God for their God, 
 have enlarged hearts as they have enlarged comforts. 
 They have an everlasting spring that supphes them 
 in all wants, refreshes them in all troubles, and then 
 runs most clearly and freshly, when all other streams 
 in the world are dried and stopped up. Were we 
 skilful in the art of faith, to improve so great an in- 
 terest, what in the world could much dismay us? 
 faith will set God against all. 
 
 It should fill our hearts with an holy indignation 
 against ourselves, if either we rest in a condition, 
 wherein we cannot truly say, God is our God, or, if 
 when we can in some sincerity of heart say this, that 
 we make no better advantage thereby, and maintain 
 not ourselves answerable to such a condition. What 
 a shame is it for a nobleman's son to live like a beg- 
 gar ? for a great rich man to live like a poor peasant ? 
 to famish at a banquet? to fall when we have so 
 many stays to lay hold on ? Whereas if we could 
 make this clear to our souls, that God is ours, and 
 then take up our thoughts with the great riches we 
 have in him, laid open in Christ, and in the promises, 
 we need trouble ourselves about nothing, but only 
 get a large vessel of faith, to receive what is offered, 
 nay enforced upon us. 
 
 When we can say, God is our God, it is more than 
 if we could say. Heaven is mine ; or whatever good 
 
300 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 the creature affords is mine. Alas, what is all this, 
 to be able to say, God is mine, who hath in him the 
 sweetness of all these things, and infinitely more? If 
 God be ours, goodness itself is ours. If he be not 
 ours, though we had all things else, yet ere long 
 nothing would be ours. What a wondrous comfort is 
 this, that God hath put himself over to be ours? 
 That a believing soul may say with as great con- 
 fidence, and greater too, that God is his, than he can 
 say his house is his, his treasure is his, his friends 
 are his ? Nothing is so much ours as God is ours, 
 because by his being ours in covenant, all other things 
 become ours : and if God be once ours, well may we 
 trust in him. God and ours joined together, make 
 up the full comfort of a christian. [God] there is all 
 to be had ; but what is that to me, unless he be my 
 God? All-sufficiency with propriety, fully stayeth 
 the soul, 
 
 David was now banished from the sanctuary, from 
 his friends, habitation, and former comforts ; but was 
 he banished from his God ? No, God was his God 
 still. When riches, and friends, and life itself cease 
 to be ours, yet God never loseth his right in us, nor 
 we our interest in him. This comfort that God is 
 ours, reacheth unto the resurrection of our bodies, 
 and to life everlasting, God is the God of Abraham, 
 and so of every true behever, even when his body is 
 turned into dust. Hence it is that the loving kind- 
 ness of the Lord is better than life, because when 
 life departs, yet we live for ever in him. When 
 Moses saw the people drop away so fast in the wil- 
 derness, and wither like grass, Thouttrt our founda- 
 tion, s^dth. he, from one generation to another: thou 
 art God from everlasting to everlasting. When we 
 
THE soul's conflict. 301 
 
 leave the world, and are no more seen here, yet we 
 have a dwelling place in God for ever. God is ours 
 from everlasting in election, and to everlasting in 
 glory, protecting us here, and glorifying us hereafter. 
 David that claimed God to be his God is gone, but 
 David's God is alive. And David himself, though 
 his flesh see corruption^ yet is alive in his God still. 
 
 That which is said of wily persons that are full of 
 fetches and windings, and turnings in the world, that 
 such will never break, may much more truly be said 
 of a right godly man, that hath but one grand policy 
 to secure him in all dangers, which is to run to his 
 God as to his tower of offence and defence : such a 
 one will never be at a desperate loss so long as God 
 hath any credit, because he never faileth those that 
 fly unto him, and that because his mercy and truth 
 never fails. The very lame and the blind, the most 
 shiftless creatures, when they had gotten the strong 
 hold of Zion, thought then they might securely scorn 
 David and his host, 2 Sam. v. 6, 7, because though 
 they were weak in themselves, yet their hold was 
 strong ; but we see their hold failed them at length, 
 which a Christian's will never do. 
 
 But God seems to have small care of those that 
 are his in the world, those who believe themselves to 
 be his jewels, are counted the ofF-scouring of the 
 world, and most despised. 
 
 We must know that such have a glorious life in 
 God, but it is hidden with Christ in God, from the 
 eyes of the world, and sometimes from their own ; 
 here they are hidden under infirmities, afflictions, and 
 disgraces, but yet never so hidden, but that God 
 sometimes lets down a beam of comfort and strength, 
 which they would not lose to be freed from their pre- 
 
302 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 sent condition, though never so grievous. God 
 comes more immediately to them now, than formerly 
 he was used ; nay, even when God seems to forsake 
 them, and to be their enemy, yet they are supported 
 with such inward strength, that they are able to make 
 good their claim with Christ their head, and cry, My 
 God still ; God never so departs, but he always leaves 
 somewhat behind him, which draws and keeps the 
 heart to him. We are like poor Hagar, who when 
 the bottle of water was spent fell a crying, Gen. 
 xxi. 13, when there was a fountain close by, but her 
 tears hindered her from seeing it ; when things go ill 
 with us in our trades and calHngs, and all is spent, 
 then our spirits droop, and we are at our wits' end, as 
 if God were not where he was. Oh, consider if we 
 had all and had not God, we had nothing : if we 
 have nothing, and have God, we have enough, for 
 we have him that hath all, and more than all at his 
 command. If we had all other comforts that our 
 hearts can desire, yet if God withdraw himself, what 
 remains but a curse and emptiness ? What makes 
 heaven but the presence of God ? And what makes 
 hell but the absence of God ? Let God be in any 
 condition, though never so ill, yet it is comfortable, 
 and usually we find more of God in trouble, than 
 when we are out of trouble ; the comforts of religion 
 never come till others fail. Cordials are kept for 
 faintings. When a curtain and a veil is drawn be- 
 twixt us and the creature, then our eyes are only up- 
 ward to God, and he is more clearly seen of us. 
 
 In the division of things God bequeaths himself to 
 those that are his, for their portion, as the best por- 
 tion he can give them. There are many goodly 
 things in the world, but none of these are a christian's 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 303 
 
 portion ; there is in him to supply all good, and re- 
 move all ill, until the time come that we stand in 
 need of no other good. It is our chief wisdom to 
 know him, our holiness to love him, our happiness to 
 enjoy him. There is in him to be had whatsoever 
 can truly make us happy. We go to our treasure, 
 and our portion in all our wants, we live by it, and 
 value ourselves by it. God is such a portion, that 
 the more we spend on him, the more we may. Our 
 strength may fail ^ and our heart may fail ^ but God 
 is our portion for ever, Psalm Ixxiii. 26. Every 
 thing else teaches us by the vanity and vexation we 
 find in them, that our happiness is not in them, they 
 send us to God ; they may make us worse, but bet- 
 ter they cannot. Our nature is above them, and 
 ordained for a greater good ; they can go but along 
 with us for a while, and their end swallows up all the 
 comfort of their beginning, as Pharaoh's lean kine 
 swallowed up the fat. If we have no better portion 
 here than these things, we are like to have hell for 
 our portion hereafter. What a shame will it be here- 
 after when we are stript of all, that it should be said, 
 Lo, this is the man that took not God for his portion. 
 If God be once ours, he goes for ever along with us, 
 and when earth will hold us no longer, heaven shall. 
 Who that hath his senses about him, would perish 
 for want of water, when there is a fountain by him ? 
 or for hunger, that is at a feast ? God alone is a 
 rich portion ; O then let us labour for a large faith, 
 as we have a large object ; if we had a thousand 
 times more faith, we should have a thousand times 
 more increase of God's blessings. When the prophet 
 came to the widow's house, as many vessels as she 
 had were filled with oil, 1 Kings xvii. 14; we are 
 
304 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 straitened in our own faith, but not straitened in our 
 God. It falls out oft in this world that God's people 
 are like Israel at the Red Sea, environed with dan- 
 gers on all sides : what course have we then to take 
 but only to look up and wait for the salvation of our 
 God ? This is a breast full of consolation, let us 
 teach our hearts to suck, and draw comfort from 
 hence. 
 
 Is God our God ; and will he suffer anything to 
 befall us for our hurt ? Will he lay any more upon 
 us, than he gives us strength to bear ? Will he suf- 
 fer any wind to blow upon us but for good ? Doth 
 he not set us before his face ? Will a father or mo- 
 ther suffer a child to be wronged in their presence, if 
 they can help it ? Will a friend suffer his friend to 
 be injured, if he may redress him ? And will God, 
 that hath put these affections into parents and friends, 
 neglect the care of those he hath taken so near unto 
 himself? No surely, his eyes are open to look upon 
 their condition ; his ears are open to their prayers ; 
 a book of remembrance , Mai. iii. 16, is written of all 
 their good desires, speeches, and actions ; he hath 
 bottles for all their tears, their very sighs are not hid 
 from him ; he hath written them upon the palms of 
 his hands, and cannot but continually look upon them. 
 Oh let us prize the favour of so good a God, who 
 though he dwells on high yet will regard things so 
 low, and not neglect the mean estate of any ; nay, 
 especially delights to be called the comforter of his 
 elect, and the God of those that are in misery, and 
 have none to fly unto but himself. 
 
 But we must know that God only thus graciously 
 visits his own children, he visits with his choicest fa- 
 vours those only that fear his name. As for those 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 305 
 
 that either secretly undermine, or openly oppose the 
 
 cause and church of God, and join with his enemies ; 
 
 such as savour not the things of God, but commit ,\^, / 
 
 spiritual idolatry, and adultery with God's enemies, 1^ 
 
 the world, and the devil ; God will answer these, as 
 
 once he did the Israelites, when in their necessity they 
 
 would have forced acquaintance upon him, Go to the 
 
 gods whom ye have served, Judges x. 14, to the great 
 
 men whose persons you have obeyed for advantage : 
 
 to your riches, to your pleasures, which you have loved 
 
 more than God or goodness : you would not lose a 
 
 base custom, an oath, a superfluity, a thing of nothing 
 
 for me, therefore I will not own you now. Such 
 
 men are more impudent than the devil himself, that 
 
 will claim acquaintance with God at last, when they 
 
 have carried themselves as his enemies all their days. 
 
 Satan could tell Paul and Silas, they were the ser- 
 
 vdnts of the living God, Acts xvi. 17 ; but he would 
 
 not make that plea for himself, knowing that he was 
 
 a cursed creature. 
 
 Miserable then is their condition who live in the 
 world, nay, in the church, without God. Such are 
 in a worse estate than Pagans and Jews ; for living 
 in the house of God, they are strangers from God, 
 and from the covenant of grace ; usurping the name 
 of Christians, having indeed nothing to do with 
 Christ. 
 
 Some of these like spiritual vagabonds, as Cain, 
 excommunicate themselves from God's presence in 
 the use of the means ; or rather like devils, that will 
 have nothing to do with God ; because they are loath 
 to be tormented before their time ; they think every 
 good sermon an arraigning of them, and therefore 
 keep out of reach. 
 
30^ TiiE soul's conflict. 
 
 Others will present themselves under the means, 
 and carry some savour away with them of what they 
 hear, but it is only till they meet with the next temp- 
 tation, unto which they yield themselves presently 
 slaves. These showed themselves under a general 
 profession, as they did, who called themselves Jews, 
 and were nothing less. But alas, an empty title will 
 bring an empty comfort at last. It was cold comfort 
 to the rich man in flames, Luke xvi., that Abraham 
 called him son. Or to Judas, that Christ called him 
 friend. Or to the rebelhous Jews, that God styles 
 them his people. Such as our profession is, such 
 will our comfort be. True profession of religion is 
 another thing than most men take it to be ; it is 
 made up of the outward duty, and the inward man 
 too ; which is indeed the life and soul of all. What 
 the heart doth not in religion, is not done. 
 
 God cares for no retainers that will only wear his 
 livery, but serve themselves. What hast thou to do 
 to take his name into thy mouth, and hat est to be 
 reformed? Saul lived in the bosom of the Church, 
 yet (being a cruel tyrant) when he was in a desperate 
 plunge, his outward profession did him no good ; 
 and therefore when he was environed with his ene- 
 mies, he uttered this doleful complaint, God hath 
 forsaken me, and the Philistines are upon me; a 
 pitiful case ; yet so will it be with all those that rest 
 in an outward profession, thinking it enough to com- 
 pliment with God, when their hearts are not right 
 within them. Such will at length be forced to cry. 
 Sickness is upon me, death is upon me, hell is before 
 me, and God hath forsaken me. I would have none 
 of God heretofore, now God will have none of me. 
 When David himself had offended God by numbering 
 
THE SOUL^S CONFLICT. 307 
 
 the people, then God counted him but plain David, 
 Go and say to David, &c. whereas before, when he 
 purposed to build a temple, then Go, tell my servant 
 David, When the Israelites had set up an idol, then 
 God fathers them on Moses, Thy people which thou 
 hast brought out of Egypt : he would not own them 
 as at other times, then ; they are my people still whilst 
 they keep covenant. No care, no present comfort 
 in this near relation. 
 
 The price of the pearl is not known till all else be 
 sold, and we see the necessary use of it. So the 
 worth of God in Christ is never discerned, till we see 
 our lost and undone condition without him, till con- 
 science flies in our faces, and drags us to the brink of 
 hell ; then if ever we taste how good the Lord is, we 
 will say, Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord, 
 Heretofore I have heard of his loving kindness, but 
 that is not a thousandth part of what I see and feel. 
 The joy I now apprehend is unutterable, uncon- 
 ceivable. 
 
 Oh then, when we have gotten our souls possessed 
 of God, let our study be to preserve ourselves in his 
 love, to walk close with him, that he may delight to 
 abide with us, and never forsake us. How basely 
 doth the Scripture speak of whatsoever stands in our 
 way? It makes nothing of them. What is man but 
 vanity, and less than vanity? All nations but as 
 a drop of the bucket, as the dust of a balance ; things 
 not at all considerable. Flesh looks upon them as 
 through a multiplying glass, making them greater 
 than they are ; but faith, as God doth, sees them as 
 nothing. 
 
 This is such a blessed condition, as may well chal- 
 lenge all our diligence in labouring to be assured of 
 
308 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 it ; neither is it to be attained or maintained without 
 the strength and prime of our care. I speak espe- 
 cially of, and in regard of the sense and comfort of 
 it. For the sense of God's favour will not be kept 
 without keeping him in our best affections above all 
 things in the world, without keeping of our hearts 
 always close and near to him, which cannot be with- 
 out keeping a most narrow watch over our loose and 
 unsettled hearts, that are ready to stray from God, 
 and fall to the creature. It cannot be kept without 
 exact and circumspect walking, without constant 
 self-denial, without a continual preparation of spirit, 
 to want and forsake anything that God seeth fit to 
 take from us. 
 
 But what of all this ? Can we cross ourselves, or 
 spend our labours to better purpose ? one sweet beam 
 of God's countenance will requite all this. We beat 
 not the air, we plough not in the sand, neither sow 
 in a barren soil, God is no barren wilderness. Nay, 
 he never shows so much of himself, as in suffering, 
 and parting with anything for him, and denying our- 
 selves of that which we think stands not with his wilL 
 Great persons require great observance. We can 
 deny ourselves, and have mens' persons in great ad- 
 miration, for hope of some advantage; and is any 
 more willing and more able to advance us than the 
 great all-sufficient God ? A Christian, indeed, under- 
 goes more troubles, takes more pains (especially with 
 his own heart) than others do. But what are these 
 to his gains ? What return so rich, as trading with 
 God? What comforts so great as these that are 
 fetched from the fountain ? One day spent in en- 
 joying the hght of God's countenance is sweeter 
 than a thousand without it. We see here, when 
 
THE SOUL*S CONFLICT. 309 
 
 David was not only shut out from all comforts, but 
 lay under many grievances, what a fruitful use he 
 makes of this, that God was his God. It upholdeth 
 his dejected, it stilleth his unquiet soul : it leadeth 
 him to the rock that was higher than he, and there 
 stayeth him. It filleth him with comfortable hopes 
 of better times to come. It sets him above himself, 
 and all troubles and fears whatsoever. 
 
 Therefore wait still in the use of means till God 
 shine upon thee ; yea, though we know our sins in 
 Christ are pardoned, yet there is something more 
 that a gracious heart waits for, that is, a good look 
 from God, a further enlargement of heart, and an 
 estabhshing in grace. It was not enough for David 
 to have his sins pardoned, but to recover the joy oj 
 salvation, diXidi freedom of spirit, Psalm h. There- 
 fore the soul should always be in a waiting condition, 
 even until it be filled with the fulness of God, as much 
 as it is capable of. Neither is it quiet alone, or com- 
 fort alone, that the soul longs after, no, nor the fa- 
 vour of God alone, but a gracious heart to walk 
 worthy of God. It rests not whilst anything re- 
 mains, that may breed the least strangeness betwixt 
 God and us. 
 
 CHAP. XXXIII. 
 
 Of Experience and Faith, and how to wait on God 
 comfortably. Helps thereto, 
 
 MY GOD. These words further imply a special 
 experience, that David's soul had felt of the 
 goodness of God, he had found God distilling the 
 comfort of his goodness and truth through the pro- 
 mises, and he knew he should find God again the 
 
310 THE soul's conflict. * 
 
 same he was, if he put him in mind of his former gra- 
 cious deahng. His soul knew right well, how good 
 God was, and he could seal to those truths he had 
 found comfort by, therefore he thus speaks to his soul : 
 My soul, what, my soul, that hast found God so good, 
 so oft, so many ways, thou my soul to be discou- 
 raged, having God, and my God, with whom I have 
 taken so much sweet counsel, and felt so much com- 
 fort from, and found always heretofore to stick so 
 close unto me ? Why shouldst thou now be in such 
 a case, as if God and thou had been strangers one 
 to another. If we could treasure up experiments, 
 the former part of our life would come in to help the 
 latter, and the longer we live, the richer in faith we 
 should be. Even as in victories, every former over- 
 throw of an enemy helps to obtain a succeeding vic- 
 tory. The use of a sanctified memory is to lose 
 nothing that may help in time of need. He had 
 need be a well tried, and a known friend, upon whom 
 we lay all our salvation and comfort. 
 
 We ought to trust God upon other grounds, 
 though we had never tried him : but when he helps 
 our faith by former experience, this should strengthen 
 our confidence, and shore up our spirits, and put us 
 on to go more cheerfully to God, as to a tried friend. 
 If we were well read in the story of our own lives, we 
 might have a divinity of our own, drawn out of the 
 observation of God's particular dealing towards us ; 
 we might say this and this truth, I dare venture upon, 
 I have found it true, I dare build all my happiness 
 upon it. As Paul, / know whom I have trusted, I 
 have tried him, he never yet failed m^, I am not now 
 to learn how faithful he is to those that are his. 
 Every new experience is a new knowledge of God^ 
 and should fit us for new encounters. If we have 
 
THE soul's conflict. 311 
 
 been good in former times, God remembers the kind- 
 ness of our youth, Jer. ii. 2 ; we should therefore re- 
 member the kindness of God even from our youth. 
 Evidence of what we have felt, helps our faith in 
 that, which for the present we feel not. 
 
 Though it be one thing to live by faith, and another 
 thing to live by sight, yet the more we see, and feel, 
 and taste of God, the more we shall be led to rely on 
 him, for that which as yet we neither see nor feel : 
 Because thou hast been my helper, saith David, there- 
 fore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice, Psalm 
 Ixiii. 7. The time was. Lord, when thou shewedst thy- 
 self a gracious Father to me, and thou art unchange* 
 able in thy nature, in thy love, and in thy gifts. 
 
 Yea, when there is no present evidence, but God 
 shows himself as contrary to us, yet a former taste of 
 God's goodness will enable to lay claim unto him 
 still. God's concealing of himself is but a wise disci- 
 pline for a time, until we be enabled to bear the full 
 revealing of himself unto us for ever. In the mean 
 time, though we have some sight and feeUng in God, 
 yet our constant living is not by it : the evidence of 
 that we see not, is that which more constantly up- 
 holds the soul, than the evidence of any thing we see 
 or feel. 
 
 Yea, though our experience by reason of our not 
 minding of it in trouble, seems many times to stand us 
 in no stead, but we fare as if God had never looked 
 in mercy upon us : yet, even here, some virtue re- 
 mains of former sense, which with the present spirit 
 of faith, help us to look upon God as ours. As we 
 have a present strength from food received, and di- 
 gested before, vessels are something the better for 
 that liquor they keep not, but runs through them. 
 
 But if experience should wholly fail, there is such 
 
312 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 a divine power in faith, as a very little beam of it, 
 having no other help than a naked promise, will up- 
 hold the soul ; howsoever, we must neglect no help, 
 for God oft suspends his comfort till we have searched 
 all our helps. Though we see no light, yet we ought 
 to search all crevices for light, and rejoice in the least 
 beam of light, that we may see day by. It is the 
 nature of true faith, to search and pry into every 
 corner, and if after all, nothing appears, then it casts 
 itself upon God as in the first conversion, when it 
 had nothing to look upon but the offer of free mercy. 
 If at that time without former experience, we did 
 trust God, why not now, when we have forgotten 
 our experience ? The chief grounds of trusting God 
 are always the same, whether we feel or feel not ; 
 nay, though for the present we feel the contrary^ 
 faith will never leave wrestling, till it hatli gotten a 
 blessing. When faith is driven to work alone, hav- 
 ing nothing but God, and his bare promise to rely 
 upon, then God thinks it hes upon his credit to show 
 himself as a God unto us. God's power in creating 
 hght out of darkness is never more exalted, than 
 when a guilty soul is lift up by God to look for mercy, 
 even when he seems armed with justice, to execute 
 vengeance upon him, then the soul is brought to a 
 near conformity unto Christ, who, 1. when he had 
 the guilt of the sins of the whole world upon him ; 
 2. when he was forsaken, and then after he had 
 enjoyed the sweetest communion with his Father that 
 ever creature could do ; and not only so, but, 3. felt 
 the weight of ^God's just displeasure against sin ; and, 
 4. was abased lower than ever any creature was : yet 
 still he held fast God as his God. 
 
 In earthly matters, if we have a title to any thing 
 
THE soul's conflict. 313 
 
 by gift, contract, inheritance, or howsoever, we will 
 not be wrangled out of our right. And shall we not 
 maintain our right in God, against all the tricks and 
 cavils of Satan and our own hearts ? We must la- 
 bour to have something, that we may show that we 
 are within the covenant. If we be never so little en- 
 tered into the covenant, we are safe. And herein 
 hes the special comfort of sincerity, that though our 
 grace be little, yet it is of the right stamp, and 
 shows us, that we are servants, and sons, though 
 unworthy to be so. Here a little truth will go far. 
 Hence it is that the saints in all their extremities 
 still allege something, that shows that they are within 
 the covenant, ive are thy children^ thy people, and 
 thy servants, &c. God is mindful of his covenant, 
 but is well pleased, that we should mind him of it 
 too, and mind it ourselves to make use of it, as David 
 doth here. He knew if he could bring his soul to 
 his God, all would be quiet. 
 
 God is so ready to mercy, that he delighteth in it, 
 and delighteth in Christ, through whom he may show 
 mercy, notwithstanding his justice, as being fully sa- 
 tisfied in Christ. Mercy is his name that he will be 
 known by. It is his glory which we behold in the 
 face of Christ, who is nothing but grace and mercy 
 itself. Nay, he pleads reasons for mercy, even from 
 the sinfulness and misery of his creature, and main- 
 tains his own mercy against all the wrangling cavils 
 of flesh and blood, that would put mercy from them ; 
 and hearken more willingly to Satan's objections, than 
 God's arguments, till at length God subdues their 
 spirits so far, as they become ashamed for standing 
 out so long against him. How ready will God be 
 to show mercy to us when we seek it, that thus pres^ 
 
314 THE soul's COXFLICT. 
 
 seth upon us, when we seem to refuse it ? If God 
 should take advantage of our waywardness, what 
 would become of us ? Satan's course is to discourage 
 those that God would have encouraged, and to en- 
 courage those whom God never speaks peace unto, 
 and he thinks to gain both ways. Our care there- 
 fore should be when we resolve upon God's ways, to 
 labour that no discouragement fasten upon us, seeing 
 God and his word speak all comfort to us. 
 
 And because the best of a Christian is to come, 
 we should raise up our spirits to wait upon God, for 
 that mercy which is yet to come. All inferior wait- 
 ings for good things here, do but train us up in the 
 comfortable expectation of the main. 
 
 This waiting on God requires a great strength of 
 grace, by reason not only, 1. of the excellency of 
 the things waited for, which are far beyond anything 
 we can hope for in the world. But, 2. in regard of 
 the long day which God takes before he performeth 
 his promise, and, 3. from thence the tediousness of 
 delay. 4. The many troubles of hfe in our way. 
 
 5. The great opposition we meet with in the world ; 
 
 6. and scandals ofttimes even from them that are in 
 great esteem for religion ; 7. together with the unto- 
 wardness of our nature in being ready to be put off 
 by the least discouragement. In these respects there 
 must be more than a human spirit to hold up the soul, 
 and carry it along to the end of that which we wait 
 for. 
 
 But if God be our God, that love which engaged 
 him to bind himself to us in precious promises ; will 
 furnish us hkewise with grace needful, till we be pos- 
 sessed of them. He will give us leave to depend 
 upon him both for happiness, and all sanctifying and 
 
THE soul's conflict. 315 
 
 quieting graces, which may support the soul, till it 
 come to its perfect rest in God. For God so quiets 
 the hearts of his children, as withal he makes them 
 better, and fitter for that which he provides for them ; 
 grace and peace go together ; our God is the God of 
 grace and peace, of such graces as breed peace. 
 
 1. As he is a God of love, nay, love itself to us, so 
 a taste of his love, raising up our love, is better than 
 wine, full of nothing but encouragement ; it will fetch 
 up a soul from the deepest discouragement; this 
 grace quickeneth all other graces, it hath so much 
 spirits in it as will sweeten all conditions. Love ena-- 
 bles to wait, as Jacob for Leah, seven years. Gen, 
 xxxix. Nothing is hard to love; it carries all the 
 powers of the soul with it. 
 
 2. As he is a God of hope, so by this grace as an 
 anchor fastened in heaven within the veil, he stayeth 
 the soul ; that though as a ship at anchor it may 
 be tossed and moved, yet not removed from its sta- 
 tion. This hope, as cork, will keep the soul, though 
 in some heaviness, from sinking, and as a helmet 
 bear ofF the blows, that they endanger not our life, 
 Eph, vi. 
 
 3. As God is a God of hope, so by hope of pati- 
 ence, which is a grace whereby the soul resigneth 
 up itself to God in humble submission to his will, 
 because he is our God, as David in extremity com- 
 forted himself in the Lord his God, Patience 
 breeds comfort, because it brings experience with it 
 of God's owning of us to be his, Eph, vi. The soul, 
 shod and fenced with this, is prepared against all 
 rubs and thorns in our way, so as we are kept from 
 taking offence. All troubles we suffer, do but help 
 patience to its perfect work, Rom. v. 3; by subduing 
 
316 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 the unbroken sturdiness of our spirits, when we feel 
 by experience, we get but more blows, by standing out 
 against God. 
 
 4. The spirit of God, likewise, is a spirit of meek- 
 ness, whereby, though the soul be sensible of evil, yet 
 it moderates such distempers, as would otherwise 
 rob a man of himself; and together with patience 
 keepeth the soul in possession of itself. It stays 
 murmurings and frettings against God or man. It sets 
 and keeps the soul in tune. It is that which God 
 (as he works, so he) much delights in, and sets a 
 price upon it, as the chief ornament of the soul. The 
 week of the earth seek God, and are hid in the day of 
 his wrath, Zeph. ii. 3 ; whereas high spirits that com- 
 pass themselves with pride as with a chain. Psalm 
 Ixxiii. 6; thinking to set out themselves by that 
 which is their shame, are looked upon by God afar off. 
 Meek persons will bow when others break ; they are 
 raised when others are plucked down, and stand 
 when others that mount upon the wings of vanity 
 fall, Matt. V. 5 ; these prevail by yielding, and are 
 lords of themselves, and other things else, more than 
 other unquiet spirited men : the blessings of heaven 
 and earth attend on these. 
 
 5. So, likewise, contentedness with our estate is 
 needful for a waiting condition, and this we have in 
 our God, being able to give the soul full satisfaction. 
 For outward things God knows how to diet us ; if 
 our condition be not to our mind, he will bring our 
 mind to our condition. If the spirit be too big for the 
 condition, it is never quieted, therefore God will level 
 both. These wants be well supplied that are made 
 up with contentedness, and with riches of a higher 
 kind. If the Lord be our Shepherd, we can ivant 
 
THE soul's conflict. 317 
 
 nothing. This lifteth the weary hands and feeble 
 knees, even under chastisement, wherein though the 
 soul mourneth in the sense of God's displeasure, yet 
 it rejoiceth in his fatherly care. 
 
 6. But patience and contentment are too low a con- 
 dition for the soul to rest in, therefore the Spirit of 
 God ariseth it up to a spiritual enlargement of joy. 
 So much joy, so much light ; and so much light, so 
 much scattering of darkness of spirit. We see in 
 nature how a little light will prevail over the thickest 
 clouds of darkness, a little fire wastes a great deal of 
 dross. The knowledge of God to be our God, brings 
 such a light of joy into the soul, as driveth out dark 
 uncomfortable conceits; this light makes lightsome. 
 If the light of knowledge alone makes bold, much 
 more the hght of joy arising from our communion and 
 interest in God. How can we enjoy God, and not 
 joy in him ? a soul truly cheerful rejoiceth that God 
 whom it loveth, should think it worthy to endure any 
 thing for him. This joy often ariseth to a spirit of 
 glory, even in matter of outward abasement; if the 
 trouble accompanied with disgrace continue, the Spi- 
 rit of glory rests upon us, and it will rest so long im- 
 til it make us more than conquerors, even then when 
 we seem conquered : for not only the cause, but the 
 spirit riseth higher, the more the enemies labour to 
 keep it under, as we see in Stephen, Acts vii. 
 
 With this joy goeth a spirit of courage and confi- 
 dence. What can daunt that soul, which in the great- 
 est troubles hath made the great God to be its own ? 
 such a spirit dares bid defiance to all opposite power, 
 setting the soul above the world, having a spirit larger 
 and higher than the world, and seeing all but God 
 beneath it, as being in heaven already in its head. 
 
318 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 After Moses and Micah had seen God in his favour 
 to them, how httle did they regard the angry counte- 
 nances of those mighty princes, that were in their times 
 the terrors of the world ? the courage of a Christian 
 is not only against sensible danger, and of flesh and 
 blood, but ^,g2imst principalities and powers of dark- 
 ness, against the whole kingdom of Satan, the god 
 of the world, whom he knows shortly shall be trodden 
 under his feet, Rom. xvi. 20. Satan and his may 
 for a time exercise us, but they cannot hurt us. True 
 behevers are so many kings and queens, so many 
 conquerors over that which others are slaves to ; they 
 can overcome themselves in revenge, they can despise 
 those things that the world admires, and see an ex- 
 cellency in that which the world sets light by, they 
 can set upon spiritual duties, which the world cannot 
 tell how to go about, and endure that which others 
 tremble to think of, and that upon wise reasons, and 
 a sound foundation, they can put off themselves, and 
 be content to be nothing, so their God may appear 
 the greater, and dare undertake and undergo any 
 thing for the glory of their God. This courage of 
 Christians among the heathens was counted obsti- 
 nacy, but they knew not the power of the Spirit of 
 Christ in his, which is ever strongest, when they are 
 weakest in themselves, they knew not the privy ar- 
 mour of proof that Christians had about their hearts, 
 and thereupon counted their courage to be obstinacy. 
 Some think the martyrs were too prodigal of their 
 blood, and that they might have been better advised ; 
 but such are unacquainted with the force of the love 
 of God kindled in the heart of his child, which makes 
 him set such a high price upon Christ and his truth, 
 that he counts not his life dear unto him, Acts xx. 
 
THE soul's conflict. 319 
 
 24.; he knows he is not his own, but hath given up 
 himself to Christ, and therefore all that is his, yea, if he 
 had more lives to give for Christ, he should have them. 
 He knows he shall be no loser by it. He knows it 
 is not a loss of his life, but an exchange for a better. 
 
 We see the creatures that are under us will be 
 courageous in, the eye of their masters, that are of a 
 superior nature above them, and shall not a Christian 
 be courageous in the presence of his great Lord and 
 Master, who is present with him, about him, and in 
 him ? undoubtedly he that hath seen God once in the 
 face of Christ, dares look the grimmest creature in the 
 face, yea, death itself under any shape. The fear x)f 
 all things flies before such a soul. Only a Christian 
 is not ashamed of his confidence. Why should not 
 a Christian be as bold for his God, as others are for 
 the base gods they make to themselves ? 
 
 7. Besides a spirit of courage (for establishing the 
 soul) is required a spirit of constancy, whereby the 
 soul is steeled and preserved immoveable in all condi- 
 tions, whether present or to come, and is not changed 
 in changes. And why? but because the spirit knows 
 that God on whom it rests is unchangeable. We our- 
 selves are as quicksilver, unsettled and moveable, till 
 the spirit of constancy fix us. We see David sets 
 out God in glorious terms, borrowed from all that is 
 strong in the creature, to show that he had great 
 reason to be constant, and cleaving to him. He is 
 my rock, my buckler^ the horn of my salvation, my 
 strong tower, &c. God is a rock so deep, that no 
 floods can undermine; so high, that no waves can 
 reach, though they rise never so high, and rage never 
 so much. When we stand upon this rock that is 
 higher than we, we may overlook all waves, swelling, 
 
320 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 and foaming, and breaking themselves, but not hurt- 
 ing us. And thereupon may triumphantly conclude 
 with the Apostle, that neither height, nor depth, 
 shall ever separate us from the love of God, Rom. 
 viii. 39. Whatsoever is in the creature he found in 
 his God, and more abundant; the soul cannot with 
 an eye of faith look upon God in Christ, but it will 
 be in its degree as God is quiet and constant, the 
 spirit aimeth at such a condition as it beholdeth in 
 God towards itself. 
 
 This constancy is upheld by endeavouring to keep 
 a constant sight of God, for want of which it oft 
 fares with us, like men, that having a city or tower 
 in their eye, passing through uneven grounds, hills, 
 and dales, sometimes get the sight thereof, sometimes 
 lose it, and sometimes recover it again, though the 
 tower be still where it was, and they nearer to it than 
 they were at first. So it is oft with our uneven spirits; 
 when once we have a sight of God, upon any pre- 
 sent discouragement, we let fall our spirits, and lose 
 the sight of him, until by an eye of faith we recover 
 it again, and see him still to be where he was at 
 first. The cherishing of passions take away the sight 
 of God, as clouds take away the sight of the sun : 
 though the sun be still where it was, and shineth as 
 much as ever it did. We use to say, when the 
 body of the moon is betwixt the sun and us, that the 
 sun is echpsed, when indeed not the sun but the 
 earth is darkened, the sun loseth not one of its glo- 
 rious beams. God is oft near us, as he was unto 
 Jacob, and we are not aware of it. God was near 
 the holy man Asaph, when he thought him afar off. 
 / am continually with thee, saith he, thou holdest 
 me by my right hand, Psalm Ixxiii. 27. Mary in her 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 321 
 
 weeping passion could not see Christ before her, he 
 seemed a stranger unto her. So long as we can keep 
 our eye upon God, we are above the reach of sin or 
 any spiritual danger. 
 
 CHAP. XXXIV. 
 
 Of confirming this trust in God, ^ Seek it of God 
 himself Siyis hinder not : nor Satan, Conclu- 
 sion, and Soliloquy, 
 
 § I. T) UT to return to the drawing out of our trust 
 X) by waiting. Our estate in this world is still to 
 wait, and happy it is that we have so great things to 
 wait for ; but our comfort is, that we have not only 
 Q. furniture of graces, 2 Pet. i. 5 ; one strengthening 
 another as stones in an arch, but hkewise God 
 vouchsafeth some drops of the sweetness of the things 
 we wait for, both to increase our desire of those good 
 things, as likewise to enable us more comfortably to 
 wait for them. And though we should die waiting, 
 only cleaving to the promise with little or no taste of 
 the good promised ; yet this might comfort us, that 
 there is a life to come, that is a life of sight and 
 sense, and not only of taste but of fulness, and that 
 for evermore, Psalm xvi. 11. Our condition here is 
 to live by faith and not by sight ; only to make our 
 living by faith more lively, it pleaseth God when he 
 sees fit, to increase our earnest of that we look for. 
 Even here God waits to be gracious to those that 
 wait for him, Isa. xxx. 18. And in heaven Christ 
 waits for us, we are part of hkfuhiess, Eph. i. 23 ; it 
 is part of his joy that we shall be where he is, John 
 xvii. 24 : he will not therefore be long without us. 
 
 Y 
 
322 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 The blessed angels and saints in heaven wait for us. 
 Therefore let us be content as strangers to wait a 
 while till we come home, and then we shall be for 
 ever with the Lord; there is our eternal rest, where 
 we sliall enjoy both our God and ourselves in perfect 
 happiness, being as without need, so without desire 
 of the least change. When the time of our departure 
 thither comes, then we may say as David, Enter 
 now my soul into thy rest. This is the rest which 
 remaineth for God's people, that is worth the wait- 
 ing for, when we shall rest from all labour of sin 
 and sorrow, and lay our heads in the bosom of Christ 
 for ever. 
 
 It stands us therefore upon to get this great char- 
 ter more and more confirmed to us, that God is our 
 God, for it is of everlasting use unto us. It first begins 
 at our entering into covenant with God, and con- 
 tinues not only unto death, but entereth into heaven 
 with us. As it is our heaven upon earth to enjoy 
 God as ours, so it is the very heaven of heaven, that 
 there we shall for ever behold him, and have com- 
 munion with him. 
 
 The degrees of manifesting this propriety in God 
 are divers, rising one upon another, as the light 
 clears up by little and little till it comes to a per- 
 fect day. 1. As the ground of all the rest, we appre- 
 hend God to be a God of some peculiar persons, as 
 favourites above others. 2. From hence is stirred up 
 in the soul a restless desire, that God would discover 
 himself so to it, as he doth to those that are his, 
 that he would visit our souls with the salvation of 
 his chosen. 3. Hence follows a putting of the soul 
 upon God, an adventuring itself on his mercy. 4. 
 Upon this, God, when he seeth fit, discovers by his 
 
THE soul's conflict. 323 
 
 spirit that he is ours. 5. Whence folio weth a de- 
 pendance on him as ours, for all things that may 
 carry us on in the way to heaven. 6. Courage and 
 boldness in setting ourselves against whatsoever may 
 oppose us in the way, as the three young men in 
 Daniel, Our God can deliver us if he will. Our 
 God is in heaven ^ &c. 7. After which springs a 
 sweet spiritual security, whereby the soul is freed 
 from slavish fears, and glorieth in God as ours in all 
 conditions. And this is termed by the Apostle, not 
 only assurance^ but the riches of assurance. Yet 
 this is not so clear and full as it shall be in heaven, be- 
 cause some clouds may after arise out of the remain- 
 der of corruption, which may something overcast this 
 assurance, until the light of God*s countenance in 
 heaven for ever scatters all. 
 
 There being so great happiness in this nearness 
 betwixt God and us, no wonder if Satan labour to 
 hinder the same, by interposing the guilt and hein- 
 ousness of our sins, which he knows of themselves 
 will work a separation : but these, upon our first 
 serious thought of returning, will be removed. As 
 they could not hinder our meeting with God, so they 
 may cause a strangeness for a time, but not a party- 
 ing, a hiding of God's countenance, but not a ban- 
 ishing of us from it. Peter had denied Christ, and 
 the rest of the Apostles had left him all alone ; yet 
 our Saviour, after his resurrection, forgets all former 
 unkindnesses ; he did not so much as object it to them, 
 but sends Mary, who herself had been a great sinner, 
 as an apostle to the apostles, and that presently, to 
 tell them that he was risen ; his care would have no 
 delay. He knew they were in great heaviness for 
 their unkindness. Though he was now entered into 
 
324 THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 
 
 the^rs^ degree of his glory, yet we see his glory 
 made him not forget his poor disciples. Above all, 
 he was most careful of Peter, as deeper in sin than 
 the rest, and therefore deeper in sorrow. Go tell 
 Peter he needs most comfort. But what is the mes- 
 sage ? that / ascend not to my Father alone, but to 
 your Father; not to my God only, but to your God. 
 
 And shall not we be bold to say so after Christ 
 hath taught us, and put this claim into our mouths ? 
 If once we let this hold go, then Satan hath us where 
 he would, every little cross then dejects us. Satan 
 may darken the joy of our salvation, but not take away 
 the God of our salvation. David, after his crying 
 sin of murder, prays. Restore unto me the joy of thy 
 salvation, Psalm h. ; this he had lost : but yet in the 
 same psalm he prays, Deliver me from blood, God, 
 thou God of my salvation ; therefore, whatsoever 
 sense, reason, temptation, the law, or guilt upon 
 conscience shall say, nay, however God himself, by 
 his strange carriage to us may seem to be, yet let us 
 cast ourselves upon him, and not suffer this plea to 
 be wrung from us, but shut our eyes to all, and look 
 upon GoA All gracious and All- sufficient, wXio is the 
 Father, the begetter of comfort, 2 Cor. i. 3 ; the God, 
 the creator of consolation, not only of things that 
 may comfort, but of the comfort itself conveyed 
 through these unto us. Who is a God like unto our 
 God, that passeth by the sins of the remnant of his 
 people ? This should not be thought on without ad- 
 miration ; and indeed there is nothing so much de- 
 serves our wonderment as such mercy, of such a God, 
 to such as we. 
 
 Since God hath avouched us to be his peculiar 
 people, let us avouch him, and since he hath passed 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 325 
 
 his word for us, let us pass our words for him that 
 we will be his, and stand for him, and to our power 
 advance his cause. Thus David out of an enlarged 
 spirit saith, Thou art my God, and I will praise 
 thee; thou art my God, and I will exalt thee. What- 
 soever we engage for God, we are sure to be gainers 
 by. The true christian is the wisest merchant, and 
 makes the best adventure. He may stay long, but is 
 sure of a safe and a rich return. A godly man is most 
 wise for himself. We enter on religion, upon these 
 terms, to part with ourselves, and all, when God 
 shall call for it. 
 
 § II. God much rejoiceth in sinners converted, as 
 monuments of his mercy, and because the remem- 
 brance of their former sins whets them on to be more 
 earnest in his service, especially after they have felt 
 the sense of God's love ; they even burn with a holy 
 desire of honouring him, whom before they disho- 
 noured, and stand not upon 4oing or suffering any 
 thing for him, but cheerfully embrace all occasions 
 of expressing obedience. God hath more work from 
 them than from others; why then should any be 
 discouraged ? 
 
 Neither is it sins after our conversion, that nullify 
 this claim of God to be ours. For this is the grand 
 difference betwixt the two covenants, that now God 
 will be merciful to our sins, if our hearts by faith 
 be sprinkled with the blood of Christ, Though one 
 sin was enough to bring condemnation, yet the free 
 gift of grace in Christ is of many offences unto 
 justification. And we have a sure ground for this, 
 for the righteousness of Christ is God's righteousness, 
 and God will thus glorify it, that it shall stand good 
 to those that by faith apply it against their daily sins, 
 
326 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 even till at once we cease both to live and sin. Fof 
 this very end was the son of God willingly made sin, 
 that we might be freed from the same. And if all 
 our sins laid upon Christ could not take away God's 
 love from him, shall they take away God's love from 
 us, when by Christ's blood our souls are purged from 
 them? 
 
 O mercy of all mercies, that when we were once 
 his, and gave away ourselves for nothing, and so be- 
 came neither his nor our own, that then he would 
 vouchsafe to become ours, and make us his by such a 
 way, as all the angels in heaven stand wondering at ; 
 even his Son not only taking our nature and miser- 
 able condition, but our sin upon him, that that being 
 done away, we might through Christ have boldness 
 with God as ours, who is now in heaven appearing 
 there for us, until he bring us home to himself, and 
 presents us to his Father for his for ever ! 
 
 Think not then only that we are God's and he ours, 
 but from what love and by what glorious means this 
 was brought to pass ; what can possibly disable this 
 claim, when God for this end hath founded a cove- 
 nant of peace so strongly in Christ, that sin itself 
 cannot disannul it ? Christ was therefore manifest, 
 that he might destroy this greatest work of the devil, 
 1 John iii. 5, 8. Forgiveness of sins now is one chief 
 part of our portion in God. It is good therefore not 
 to pore and plod so much upon sin and vileness by 
 it, as to forget that mercy that rejoiceth over judg- 
 ment. If we once be God's, though we drink this 
 deadly poison, it shall not hurt us, Mark xvi. 18. 
 God will make a medicine, an antidote of it ; and 
 for all other evils, the fruit of them is by God's sanc- 
 tifying the same, the taking away sin out of our na- 
 
THE soul's conflict. 327 
 
 tures ; so that lesser evils are sent to take away the 
 greater. If God could not over-rule evils to his own 
 ends, he would never suffer them. 
 
 § III. I have stood the longer upon this, because it 
 is the one thing needful, the one thing we should 
 desire, that this one God, in whom, and from whom 
 is all good, should be ours. All promises of all good 
 in the new covenant, spring first from this, that God 
 will be ours and we shall be his, Jer. xxxii. What 
 can we have more ? and what is in the world less 
 that will content us long, or stand us in any stead, 
 especially at that time when all must be taken from 
 us? Let us put up all our desires for all things 
 we stand in need of, in this right we have to God in 
 Christ, who hath brought God and us together ; he 
 can deny us nothing, that hath not denied us himself. 
 If he be moved from hence to do us good, that we 
 are his. Let us be moved to fetch all good from him, 
 on the same right that he is ours. 
 
 The persuasion of this will free us from all pusilla- 
 nimity, lowliness, and narrowness of spirit, when we 
 shall think that nothing can hurt us, but it must 
 break through God first. If God give quietness, who 
 shall make trouble ? Job xxxiv. 29. If God be with 
 us, who can be against us ? This is that which puts 
 comfort into all other comforts, that maketh any bur- 
 then light ; this is always ready for all purposes : our 
 God is a present and a seasonable help. All evils are 
 at his command to be gone, and all comforts at his 
 command to come. It is but, go comfort, go peace, 
 to such a man's heart, cheer him, raise him ; go sal- 
 vation, rescue such and such a soul in distress. So 
 said and so done presently. Nay, with reverence be 
 it spoken, so far doth God pass over himself unto us. 
 
328 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 that he is content himself to be commanded by us. 
 Concerning the work of my hands command you me : 
 lay the care and charge of that upon me. He is con- 
 tent to be out- wrestled and over-powered by a spirit 
 of faith, as in Jacob, and the woman of Canaan ; to 
 be as it were at our service. He would not have 
 us want any thing wherein he is able to help us. 
 And what is there wherein God cannot help us? 
 If Christians knew the power they have in heaven 
 and earth, what were able to stand against them? 
 What wonder is it if faith overcome the world, if it 
 overcomes him that made the world ? that faith should 
 be almighty, that hath the Almighty himself ready 
 to use all his power for the good of them to whom he 
 hath given the power of himself unto ? Having there- 
 fore such a living fountain to draw from, such a 
 centre to rest in, having all in one, and that one 
 ours, why should we knock at any other door? we 
 may go boldly to God now, as made ours, being 
 bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh. We may 
 go more comfortably to God, than to any angel or 
 saint. God in the second person hath vouchsafed 
 to take our nature upon him, but not that of angels. 
 Our God, and our man, our God-man is ascended 
 unto the high court of heaven to his and our God, 
 clothed with our nature. Is there any more able and 
 willing to plead our cause, or to whom we may trust 
 business with, than he, who is in heaven for all 
 things for us, appertaining to God? Heb. v. 1. 
 
 It should therefore be the cMef care of a christian, 
 upon knowledge of what he stands in need of, to 
 know where to supply all. It should raise up a holy 
 shame and indignation in us, that there should be so 
 much in God, who is so near unto us in Christ, and 
 
THE soul's conflict. 329 
 
 we make so little use of him. What good can any 
 thing do us if we use it not ? God is ours to use, 
 and yet men will rather use shifts and unhallowed 
 policies, than be beholding to God, who thinks him- 
 self never more honoured by us than when we make 
 use of him. If we beheve any thing will do us good, 
 we naturally make out for the obtaining of it. If we 
 believe any thing will hurt us, we study to decUne 
 it. And certain it is, if we beHeved that so much 
 good were in God, we would then apply ourselves 
 to him, and him to ourselves ; whatsoever virtue is 
 in any thing, it is conveyed by apphcation and touch- 
 ing of it ; that, whereby we touch God, is our faith, 
 which never toucheth him, but it draws virtue from 
 him ; upon the first touch of faith, spiritual life is 
 begun. It is a bastard in nature, to beheve any thing 
 can work upon another without spiritual or bodily 
 touch. And it is a monster in religion, to believe 
 that any saving good will issue from God, if we turn 
 from him, and shut him out, and our hearts be un- 
 willing. Where unbelief is, it binds up his power. 
 Where faith is, there it is between the soul and God, 
 as betwixt the iron and the loadstone, a present clos- 
 ing and drawing of one to the other. This is the be- 
 ginning of eternal life, so to know God the Father 
 and his son Christ, John xvii. 4 ; as thereby to em- 
 brace him with the arms of faith and love, as ours, by 
 the best title he can make us, who is truth itself. 
 
 Since then our happiness lies (out of ourselves) in 
 God, we should go out of ourselves for it, and first get 
 into Christ, and so unto God in him ; and then labour, 
 by the spirit of the Father and the Son, to maintain 
 acquaintance with both, that so God may be ours, 
 not only in covenant but in communion, hearkening 
 
330 THE soul's conflict. | 
 
 what he will say to us, and opening our spirits, dis- 
 closing our wants, consulting and advising in all our 
 distresses with him. By keeping this acquaintance 
 with God, peace and all good is conveyed to us, Job 
 xxii. 21. 
 
 Thereafter as we maintain this communion further 
 with him, we out of love study to please him, by 
 exact walking according to his commands ; then we 
 shall feel increase of peace as our care increaseth, 
 then he will come and sup with us, and be free in his 
 refreshing of us. Then he will show himself more 
 and more to us, and manifest still a further degree of 
 presence in joy and strength, until communion in 
 grace ends in communion in glory. 
 
 But we must remember, as David doth here, to 
 desire and delight in God himself, more than in any 
 thing that is God's ; it was a sign of St. Paul's pure 
 love to the Corinthians, when he said, / seek not 
 yours, but you. We should seek for no blessing of 
 God so much as for himself. 
 
 What is there in the world of equal goodness to 
 draw us away from our God? If to preserve the 
 dearest thing we have in the world, we break with 
 God, God will take away the comfort we look to 
 have by it, and it will prove but a dead contentment, 
 if not a torment to us. Whereas, if we care to pre- 
 serve communion with God, we shall be sure to find 
 in him whatsoever we deny for him, honour, riches, 
 pleasures, friends, all ; so much the sweeter, by how 
 much we have the more immediately from the spring 
 head. We shall never find God to be our God more, 
 than when for making of him to be so, we suffer any 
 thing for his sake. We enjoy never more of him than 
 then. 
 
THE soul's conflict. 331 
 
 At the first we may seek to him, as rich to supply 
 our wants, as a physician to cure our souls and bodies, 
 but here we must not rest till we come to rejoice in 
 him as our friend, and from thence rise to an admi- 
 ration of him for his own excellencies, that being so 
 high in himself, out of his goodness would stoop low 
 to us. And we should delight in the meditation of 
 him, not only as good to us, but as good in himself; 
 because goodness of bounty springs from goodness of 
 disposition ; he doth good because he is good, 
 
 A natural man delights more in God's gifts than 
 in his grace. If he desires grace, it is to grace him- 
 self, not as grace, making him Uke unto God, and 
 issuing from the first grace, the free favour of God ; 
 by which means men come to have the gifts of God 
 without God himself. But alas, what are all other 
 goods without the chief good ? they are but as flowers, 
 which are long in planting, in cherishing and grow- 
 ing, but short in enjoying the sweetness of them. 
 David here joys in God himself; he cares for nothing 
 in the world, but what he may have with his favour ; 
 and whatever else he desires, he desires only that he 
 may have the better ground from thence to praise 
 his God. 
 
 § IV. The sum of all is this, the state of God's dear 
 children in this world is to be cast into variety of 
 conditions J wherein, they consisting of nature, flesh, 
 and spirit, every principle hath its own and proper 
 working. They are sensible diS flesh and blood ; they 
 are sensible to discouragements as sinful flesh and 
 blood ; but they recover themselves, as having a higher 
 principle (God's spirit) above flesh and blood in them. 
 
 In this conflicting state, every principle labouring 
 to maintain itself, at length by help of the spirit, 
 
332 THE soul's conflict. i 
 
 backing and strengthening his own work, grace gets 
 the better, keeping nature within bounds, and sup- 
 pressing corruption. And this the soul, so far as it 
 is spiritual, doth by gathering itself to itself, and by 
 reasoning the case so far, till it concludes, and joins 
 upon this issue, that the only way to attain sound 
 peace is, when all other means fail, to trust in God. 
 And thereupon he lays a charge upon his soul to do, 
 so it being a course grounded upon the highest rea- 
 son, even the unchangeable goodness of God ; who, 
 out of the riches of his mercy, having chosen a people 
 in this world, which should be to the glory of his 
 mercy, will give them matter of setting forth his 
 praise, in showing some token of good upon them, 
 as being those on whom he hath fixed his love, and 
 to whom he will appear not only a saviour, but salva- 
 tion itself. Nothing but salvation ; as the sun is 
 nothing but light, so whatsoever proceeds from him 
 to them tends to further salvation. All his ways 
 towards them lead to that ; which ways of his, though 
 for a time they are secret, and not easily found out, 
 yet at length God will be wonderful in them, to the 
 admiration of his enemies themselves, who shall be 
 forced to say, God hath done great things for them ; 
 and all from this ground, that God is our God in 
 covenant: which words are a stern that rule and 
 guide the whole text. 
 
 /For why should we not be disquieted when we are 
 disquieted ? Why should we not be cast down when 
 we are cast down ? Why should we trust in God as 
 a saviour ? but that he is our God, making himself 
 so to us in his choicest favours : doing that for us, 
 which none else can do, and which he doth to none 
 else that are not his in a gracious inanner.,/This 
 
THE SOUL S CONFLICT. 333 
 
 blessed interest and intercourse betwixt God's spirit 
 and our spirits, is the hinge upon which all turns : 
 without this no comfort is comfortable ; with this, no 
 trouble can be very troublesome. 
 
 Without this assurance there is little comfort in 
 soliloquies ; unless, when we speak to ourselves, we 
 can speak to God as ours. For in desperate cases, 
 our soul can say nothing to itself, to still itself, unless 
 it be suggested by God. Discouragements will ap- 
 pear greater to the soul than any comfort, unless 
 God comes in as ours. 
 
 See therefore David's art ; he demands of himself 
 why he was so cast down ? The cause was apparent, 
 because there were troubles without, and terrors 
 within, and none to comfort. Well, grant this, saith the 
 spirit of God in him (as the worst must be granted) ; 
 yet saith the spirit. Trust in God, — So I have. 
 
 Why then, wait in trusting ; light is sown for the 
 righteous ; it comes not up on the sudden, we must 
 not think to sow and reap both at once. If trouble 
 be lengthened, lengthen thy patience. 
 
 What good will come of this ? 
 
 God will wait to do thee that good ; for which thou 
 shalt praise him ; he will deal so graciously with thee, 
 as he will deserve thy praise ; he will show thee his 
 salvation. And new favours will stir thee up to sing 
 new songs : every new recovery of ourselves or friends 
 is, as it were, a new life, and ministers new matter of 
 praise. And upon offering this sacrifice of praise, the 
 heart is further enlarged to pray for fresh blessings. 
 We are never fitter to pray, than after praise. 
 
 But in the mean time I hang down my head, 
 whilst mine enemies carry themselves highly^ and 
 my friends stand aloof 
 
3(J4 THE soul's conflict. 
 
 God in his own time (which is best for thee) will 
 be the salvation of thy countenance ; he will com- 
 pass thee about with songs of dehverance, and make 
 it appear at last, that he hath care of thee. 
 
 But why then doth God appear as a stranger 
 to me ? 
 
 That thou shouldst follow after him with the 
 stronger faith and prayer ; he withdraws himself, that 
 thou shouldst be the more earnest in seeking after him. 
 God speaks the sweetest comfort to the heart in the 
 wilderness. Happily thou art not yet low enough, 
 nor purged enough. Thy affections are not thoroughly 
 crucified to the world, and therefore it will not yet 
 appear that it is God's good will to deliver thee. 
 Wert thou a fit subject of mercy, God would bestow 
 it on thee. 
 
 But what ground hast thou to build thyself so 
 strongly upon God? 
 
 He hath offered, and made himself to be my God, 
 and so hath showed himself in former times ; and I 
 have made him my God, by yielding him his sove- 
 reignty in my heart. Besides the present evidence 
 of his blessed spirit, clearing the same, and many 
 pecuUar tokens of his love, which I daily do enjoy ; 
 though sometimes the beams of his favour are eclipsed. 
 Those that are God's, besides their interest and right 
 in him, have oft a sense of the same even in this hfe, 
 as a fore- taste of that which is to come. To the seal 
 of grace stamped upon their hearts, God superadds 
 a fresh seal of joy and comfort, by the presence and 
 witness of his spirit. And shows likewise some out- 
 ward token for good upon them, whereby he makes 
 it appear that he hath set apart him that is godly 
 for himself, as his own, Psalm iv. 3. 
 
THE bOUL's CONFLICT. 335 
 
 Thus we see that discussing of objections in the 
 consistory of the soul, settles the soul at last. Faith 
 at length silencing all risings to the contrary. All mo- 
 tion tends to rest, and ends in it. God is the centre 
 and resting-place of the soul, and here David takes 
 up his rest, and so let us. Then whatsoever times 
 come, we are sure of a hiding-place and sanctuary. 
 
 Although the Jig-tree shall not blossom, neither 
 shall fruit be in the vines, the labour of the olive 
 shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat, Sfc, 
 yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God 
 of my salvation, Hab. iii. 17. 
 
 He that dwelleth in the secret pl(ice of the most 
 High, shall lodge under the shadow of the Almighty, 
 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge, and my 
 fortress; My God, in him will I trust. Psalm xci. 1, 2. 
 
 My strength and my heart faileth, but God is 
 the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. 
 Psalm Ixxiii. 26. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Actions of man, what are the principles of them, 128 
 
 Admire God's love, 280 
 
 Adventure of faith makes a rich return, 286 
 
 Affections, their conflict one with another, 47; how to be ordered, 
 
 61; in case of God's dishonour no affection is excessive, 63 ; 
 
 why they do not always follow the judgment, 220 ; God most to 
 
 be affected, 291 
 Appearance of salvation in the countenance : whence and why, 274 
 Application of mercy in particular, necessary: reasons, 282; in 
 
 the wicked it is a lie, 284; it is no easy matter to say My God, 
 
 284 ; when it is right, 290 ; a shame not to improve it, 299 
 Arguments for faith to come to God, 244 
 Art in bearing of troubles, 39 ; in misery to think of matter of 
 
 joy, 251 
 Assurance of God's favour: what we should do in the want 
 
 thereof, 258 
 
 Back faith, with strong reasons and arguments, 242 
 
 Beauty, of a well-ordered soul, 80 ; of Christians' works performed 
 
 in season, 250 
 Bilney's offence at a preacher, 211 
 
 Blasphemy : temptations of blasphemy, and how checked, 205 
 Breach of inward peace : still look at thyself therein, 87 
 Books, all written to amend the book of conscience, 40 
 
 Casting down disquiets, why, 27 ; remedies against casting 
 
 down, 28 
 Censure not Christians distempered : dangerous so to do, 24 
 Change of nature changeth all, 108 
 Changes must be fore-thought of, 75 
 Caution in fore-casting such changes, 80 ; directions for this 
 
 fore-thinking of troubles, 71 
 Character of a good soul, 220 
 Christ is salvation clothed in man's flesh, 272 
 Christian calling, what is the true ability to it : grace not gifts 
 
 only, 237 ; particular calling, directions for it, 238 
 Combats spiritual, how discerned from that of common grace and 
 
 light, 50 
 
 z 
 
338 INDEX. 
 
 Comfort in the Church's troubles, 240, 275 ; amiss, sought in 
 sanctification, 18; yet to have and hold comfort, grow up in 
 holiness, 19 
 
 Comforters in way of humanity, many : few in way of Christi- 
 anity, 132 ; graces necessary in a good comforter, 132; method 
 of comforting, 134; a sin not to comfort the afflicted, 136; 
 how comfort tendered doth no good : miscarriages therein, 158 
 
 Communion with God to be sought, and how Christians have con- 
 tinual ground of it, 250 ; of friends, in watching over one 
 another, 125; in comforting one another, 127 
 
 Complain of thyself, not of God, nor others, 43 
 
 Concupiscence not severely censured by Papists, 90 
 
 Condition of life : none wherein we may not exercise some 
 grace, 85 ; a man can be in no condition wherein God is at a 
 loss and cannot help him, 154 
 
 Confidence in ourselves, how chased away, 1,41 ; for mercies, 
 warranted to us as well as to David, or others, 252 
 
 Conflict of grace and corruption much casts us down, 225 ; should 
 make us trust in God the more, 226 
 
 Conflicts in man's soul : kinds and degree's of them, 47 
 
 Conscience not clear brings disquietness, 19 
 
 Consideration, the best objects of it, 108 
 
 Contentment, to be framed to ourselves, and how, 73 ; it is a spe- 
 cial means of quieting the soul, 73 
 
 Continuance of sin : or sins of continuance dangerous, 210 ; and 
 how to be dealt withal, 210 
 
 Corruption, how far curbed or repressed by God, 99 
 
 Corruptions, remaining in a holy heart are natural, they would not 
 be controlled, 88 ; and what follows, 92 
 
 Courage a means to establish the soul, 5 
 
 Court of conscience in man, 31 ; why we are so backward to keep 
 this court, 35 
 
 Deal with thyself in all afflictions, to get quietness, 68 
 
 Death, comfort in the hour of it, 235 ; in the state after death, 
 
 236 
 Delay not the praising of God, 261 
 Defects in life rise from defects in trust, 104 ; there is a supply 
 
 for all our defects, 228 
 Deordination of nature to be looked upon, and how, 97; most 
 
 need^l so to do, 78 
 Denial of ourselves necessary, wherein, 82 ; notes of it, 83 
 Desertion, then Christ should be put between God and us, 298 
 Despair of mercy, no cause of it, 331 
 Desperation may be, where is only a general apprehension of 
 
 mercy, 283 
 Difference between a carnal Christian and another, 256 
 
INDEX. 339 
 
 Discouragement in affliction incident to God's own people, 7 ; 
 causes hereof in ourselves, privative, 12; positive, 14; we are 
 apt to cast down ourselves, 25 ; reasons against discourage- 
 ment, the hurt that comes by it, 28 ; it crosseth our own prin- 
 ciples, 32 3 in case of discouragement we should not think too 
 much on our corruptions, 57 ; a godly man knows how to 
 carry himself in discouragements, 46 
 
 Disquieted, we may be for that which is not a sin to be disquieted 
 for, 54 ; we may be for that which is not befitting, 55 
 
 Disquietness for sin, when it exceeds measure, 56 
 
 Disquietments proper to the soul, beside those of the body, 64 
 
 Distrust the cause of all disquiet, 100 
 
 Distempers fall, if arraigned before reason, 32 
 
 Doubting ariseth of Popish doctrine of work, 19 
 
 Duty, more to be thought of than comfort, 247 
 
 Duties to be done with united forces or spirits, 19 
 
 Eloquence of Ambrose converted Austin, 114 
 Election, not known, no hinderance to our trust in God, 286 
 Enemies of the Church : comfort against them, 234 
 Envy not their prosperity, 277 
 Estate of a Christian, how to be judged, 17 
 Event of things not to be too much fore-casted, 18 
 Evidence of faith more constantly upholds the soul, than evi- 
 dence of sight, 31 
 Evil in a holy Christian, not to be too much looked upon, 24 ; 
 
 nor evils of the time, 24 
 Evils of sin, 51 ; that are outward, how remedied, 28 
 Excellencies of God to be branched out for our several uses, 297 
 Exercise of grace preserves the soul, 145 
 Experiments of God, treasured up in the heart, would much 
 
 help faith, 310 
 Experiences to be called to mind, 182 ; and communicated to 
 
 others, 182 
 Extremities wherein to the godly are suffered to fall, and why, 181 
 
 Faith must own God especially, 281 ; and why, 281 ; it relies on 
 a double principle, 174 ; why so requisite in Christians, 175 ; it 
 is still shaken by the devil and wicked ones, 10 ; it must have 
 price set on it, and how this maybe, 184, 185 ; in us no seeds 
 of faith, as of obedience, 194 
 Fancy to be quickly limited and restrained, 110; the proper use 
 
 of it, 112 
 Favour of God : how to preserve the sense of it, 308 
 Failings pardoned, where is no malicious intention, 248 
 Former favours make the soul more sensible of contrary impres- 
 ' sions, 2 
 
340 INDEX. 
 
 Friends living, spiritual privileges by them, 128 ; departure, com- 
 fort in it, 238 
 
 Galeacius Caracciolus, hov^^ converted, 114 
 
 God, makes every man a governor over himself, 40; still left to a 
 good heart for comfort, when all others fail, 144; only is the 
 fit object of trust, 153 ; cannot (out of Christ) be thought on 
 
 , comfortably, 155; is some men's God specially, 279; hence 
 is the spring of all good, 281 ; when we prove this to our souls, 
 290 ; tokens of it, 293 ; comfort by it in extremities, 296 ; his 
 presence sweetens all places and estates, 2; his glory more to 
 be regarded than our own good, 245 ; is many salvations to his 
 people, 271 ; a rock not to be undermined, 272 
 
 Godly, men when best disposed, 67 ; they can cast restraint on 
 themselves in distempers, 38 ; can make a good use of privacy, 
 39 
 
 Great ones in most danger, 39; and why, 130 
 
 Greatness of sin may encourage us to go to God, 207 
 
 Grief gathered to a head, will not be quieted at the first, 3 ; it 
 casteth down, as joy lifteth up, 30 ; how to be mitigated, 126 ; 
 grief faulty, when, KtQ; even godly grief is to be bounded, 57 ; 
 how it is to be ordered aright, 59; for sin, why we want it so 
 much, 217; what we must do in the want of it, 223 ; it is not 
 all at first, 223; of contrition, and of compassion, 59 
 
 Growth in laying claim to God, 281 
 
 Guard over the soul to be kept, 99 
 
 Hatred of sin, a good sign of grace : notes of it, 222 
 
 Heart, of man not easily brought unto God, 148; to be most 
 
 watched, and kept in temper, 26 ; though vile, shall be fitted 
 
 for God, comfort, and glory, 233 ; enlarged to praise God, is 
 
 the chief deliverance, 257 ; of christians first cheered by God, 
 
 then their countenance, 274 
 Help, by others in discerning our estates, 161 ; where none is, yet 
 
 trust in God, 161 
 Holiness of God no discouragement to true Christians, in their 
 
 many infirmities, 229 
 Hope, the main support of a Christian, 153; the diflference of it 
 
 from faith, 153 ; it quieteth the soul most in a hopeless estate : 
 
 two grounds, 175, 287 
 Hour of mercy not yet past, if yielded unto, 215 
 Humbled persons comforted, 216 ; to humble us God need not 
 
 go without us to fetch forces, 64; and we need go no further 
 
 than ourselves, 88 
 
 Idle life is ever a burden to itself, 20 
 Idleness is the hour of temptation, 110 
 
INDEX. 341 
 
 Imagination and opinion, the cause of much disquiet, 103 ; how 
 it hurteth us, 106; how sinful imaginations work upon the 
 soul, 105; the remedy and cure of this evil, 107; opportuni- 
 ties of helping it to be sought and taken, 113; how it may be 
 made serviceable in spiritual things, 115; not impossible to 
 rule our imagination, 137 ; misconceits about them, 189 
 Immanuel : a name of nature, and of office, 279 
 Impediments should not discourage Christians, 227 
 Impudency in wicked men, more than in devils, 305 
 Inclinations of soul to the creature, should be at first subdued, 191 
 Instinct supernatural leads the godly unto God, 244 
 Interest in God, the ground of trusting in him, 279 
 Joy and praise help each other, 254; stilleth the soul, 251 
 Judgment and reason well employed, will raise up a dejected 
 spirit, 31 
 
 Large faith, and large object should be shaped together, 304 
 
 Latimer's three prayers, all granted, 253 
 
 Law of God (extent and spiritualness of it) to be considered, 98 
 
 Least mercy of God must be prized, 263 
 
 Liberty, Christian may not be unknown, nor yet abused, 20, 67 
 
 Life of a Christian, a life of trouble, 63 ; of Christians, a mixture 
 
 of good and evil, 250; hid, 301 ; we lose ourselves most by 
 
 yielding most to ourselves, 36 
 Love such things as can return love, 72 
 Love of God, to be looked at in every mercy, 72 ; not to b& 
 
 questioned : grounds, 173 
 Love-tokens from God, arguing he is ours, 293 
 Luther assured of a particular mercy in prayer, 253 
 
 Massacre of France terrible afterward to the king, 40 
 
 Means, whether relied on or not, 200 
 
 Mercy of God must not be limited by man's sins, 209 ; it is 
 
 God's name, he pleads for it, 313 
 Moon in the change nearest the sun ; so we to God iu greatest 
 
 dejection, 11 
 Motions of sin to be at first crushed, 76 
 Murder of the tongue, 12 
 
 Nature of man, since sin first came in, subject to misery and sorrow, 
 5; proved, 6; applied, 7; divine, the only counter-poison of 
 sin, 100 
 
 Nature's favourers, enemies of grace, 96 
 
 Natural righteousness in Adam, 91 ; sins in us, voluntary too, 94 
 
 Objects of religion or conversation, not to be substituted, 186 
 Offence against God, takes not away trust in God, 147 
 
342 INDEX. 
 
 Omission of duties breeds trouble to the soul, 21 
 Opinions of others not to be too much heeded, 23, 73 
 Opposition to sin in the godly is universal, 52 
 Over-joying in outward comforts, breeds trouble, 22 
 Outward things, no fit stays for the soul, 187, 189 
 
 Passions conflict one with another, 47; not to be put to our 
 
 troubles, 73 ; hid till drawn out : and how this is, 74 
 Peace the epitome of all good, 81 
 Perseverance in grace warranted, and how, 226 
 Portion of the godly is God alone, 302 
 Power that we have over ourselves, is of God, 141 
 Prayer needful to keep ourselves in temper, 37 ; heard : signs of 
 
 it, 265; and praise depend on each other, 247, 266 
 Praise in trouble more minded by the godly than their delivery, 
 
 245 ; special times to praise God, 248 ; no easy matter to praise 
 
 God aright, 257 ; conditions, 262 ; motives, 268 ; means of 
 
 performing it, 268 
 Prepare for an alteration of thy estate and spirit, 25 
 Presence of God with his children in worst times, what it doth for 
 
 them, 249 
 Pride must ever be taken down though the spirit be dejected, 37 
 Pride and passion, mischievous, 35 
 Promises of God, what they are in divers respects, 172; are not 
 
 all reserved for heaven, but partly verified on earth, 170 
 Property in God chiefly to be laboured for, 283 
 Providence of God makes all good to us, as himself is good, 155; 
 
 it is a special stay of our faith, 157; what God is he makes 
 
 good by providences, 157 ; graces to be exercised in observing 
 
 divine providence, 162 
 
 Real praises of God necessary, 264 ; things put out troublesome 
 
 thoughts, 107 
 Reason for sin, none at all, 243 
 Reasons of a godly man are divine, 243 
 Relations wherein we stand to God, must be all answered, and 
 
 how, 175 
 Relapses pardonable and curable, 214 
 Repentance begins in the love of God, 116 
 Resolution, necessary in Christianity, 257; want of it breeds 
 
 much disquiet, 21 ; firm and peremptory to be assumed, 149; 
 
 renew it, 150; and that quickly, 150 
 
 Salvations of God, plentifully and manifold, 269 ; to be thought 
 
 upon in trouble, 272; the golden chain of it, 283 
 Satan and his instruments still casting down the godly, 8 
 Satan's cunning in divers humours of Christians, 15; to discou- 
 
INDEX. 343 
 
 rage those whom God encourageth, 313; study to unloose 
 the heart from God, 196; and to divide between God and us, 
 197 
 
 Self-denial requisite to praise God, 257 
 
 Self, what in the godly, and what in others, 65 
 
 Signs of a good estate, 17 
 
 Sickness, comfort in it, 232 
 
 Sin ever unreasonable amidst seeming reasons, 34; is the great- 
 est trouble, 234; avoid not trouble by sin, 234; sweet in com- 
 mitting, bitter in the reckoning, 207 
 
 Side with God in evil times, 294 
 
 Sight of God not always alike, reasons of it, 31 1 
 
 Soliloquies of special use, 128 
 
 Solitariness ill for afflicted ones, 137; intolerable to the wicked, 
 why, 40 
 
 Sorrow weakens the heart, 27 ; not required for itself, as sorrow, 
 216; cannot make satisfaction, 216; dangerous to desire it 
 over-much, 219; Popery in it: comfortable degree of sorrow 
 for sin, when, 221 
 
 Soul's most constant estate in respect of sin, 334; excellency, in 
 reflecting on itself, and judging all its issues, 41; temper when 
 right, 58 
 
 Soul to be cited, and pressed to give accounts, 36; debased by 
 wicked men, 42 ; should be first set in order, 44; needs some- 
 thing beside itself to uphold it, 65 ; though over-borne a while, 
 gets free again, 152; if gracious, most sensible of the want of 
 spiritual means, 4; knows when it is well with it, when ill, 4 
 
 Superstition, the force of it, 106 
 
 Symmetry of soul most lovely, 80 
 
 Temptation divine, what it is, 8 
 
 Thanks, then best, when it tends to praising, 261 ; should be 
 
 large, 262 
 Thankfulness never without some taste of mercy, 264 ; it is a 
 
 special help in an afflicted condition, 264; excellent use of 
 
 it, 270 
 Thoughts to be set in order every morning, 118; are not free, 118 
 
 danger of that opinion, 121 ; of praise should be precious to 
 
 us, 235 
 Titles : empty titles of goodness bring but empty comfort at last, 
 
 306; our title in God to be maintained against all cavils, 290 
 Trade of conversing with God, the richest in the world, 259 
 Trial of trust, whether it be right, 202 
 
 Troubles, outward, appointed to help the soul inwardly, 41 ; in- 
 ward : three-fold miscarriage of it, 44 ; there is a sanctified use 
 
 of all troubles to God's children, 80 
 Trust is the means to bring God and the soul together, 153; to 
 
344 INDEX. 
 
 settle trust, know the mind as well as the nature of God, 172 ; 
 must answer the truth of God, 175; directions about trust- 
 ing, 176 ; whether we may trust to friends, riches, or helps, 185 j 
 a sin so to do, 188 : trust itself not to be trusted in, 131 
 
 Trusting should follow God's order of promising, 193 
 
 Trial of ourselves exceeding necessary, 75 
 
 Victory over ourselves : signs of it, 83 ; how it may be obtained, 86 
 
 Uniformity necessary in the lives of Christians, 87 
 
 Unthankful ness to God, most sinful, 259 ; detestable to God and 
 
 man, 266 
 Unworthiness may not keep from God, 286 
 
 Waiting on God, a necessary duty, 255 ; what it is to wait, 256 ; 
 
 be ever in a waiting condition, 309; difficult: helps to wait 
 
 on God, 314 
 Will of man hath a sovereignty, 94; of the godly, conformable 
 
 to God's will, 246 
 Worldly good hath some evil, and worldly evil hath some good, 77 
 
 Yet not in hell, nor at worst, a mercy and undeserved, 249 
 Youth to be curbed quickly, 37 
 
 FINIS. 
 
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